Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry: “We are dealing with big companies who might not see the vital service of early education service as a human service but more as a profit-making service.” Photo: Michelle Kroll.
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry has questioned how ‘for profit’ companies are able to provide early childhood education services after several workers who say they’re owed wages from a privately run service recently walked off the job.
Genius Childcare, a nationwide company that operates five childcare centres across the ACT, has been subject to multiple complaints from employees over delayed payment of wages and superannuation. This led to 15 workers resigning en masse at the Genius-run centre in Gowrie and several staff taking leave at the Symonston service, causing it to close its doors to parents and children on Monday (2 December).
“We have, as a country, decided that marketising and for-profit services in the early childhood space is something that we’re going to work with,” Minister Berry said at a press conference on Thursday (5 December).
“Unfortunately, what we are seeing is the consequence of that, with a provider who is treating the service as a for-profit education service rather than putting the children front and centre.
“We are dealing with big companies who might not see the vital service of early education service as a human service but more as a profit-making service.
“If that’s the case, we need to have more power to regulate that. At the moment, we have a whole bunch of different regulations that cover workplaces but none of them can pull together to make a difference on whether a service should be able to be provided.”
Genius Childcare has previously been embroiled in financial controversy. In March 2023, a landlord evicted them from a Perth premises due to unpaid rent.
A few months later, the company was taken to court over $4.9 million of rent owed at a centre in Melbourne.
Nevertheless, ACT childcare regulator Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA) allowed Genius to take over five Canberra centres from another private provider, G8 Education, earlier this year.
Several staff took leave at the Symonston facility, causing it to close its doors to parents and children on Monday. Photo: James Coleman.
Ms Berry conceded there were concerns about Genius before they launched in the ACT.
“My understanding is [CECA] had received a report around the operation of Genius from other states and territories and they’d seen an article in a newspaper that referred to some financial situations that the early childhood education provider was going through,” she said.
“Unfortunately, there was not enough evidence at that time to preclude Genius from operating in the ACT.”
Rebecca Odlander, a parent of a one-year-old and three-year-old she recently withdrew from the Genius Gowrie service, can’t understand why the company was given the green light.
“If you’re the regulator and approve childcare centres, how can you allow them to have childcare centres if they’re not paying staff? Because this ultimately affects children. If staff leave because they’re unpaid, parents don’t know who is going to be looking after their kids,” she said.
Ms Odlander and her husband have decided to juggle looking after their kids themselves after learning about the staffing issues.
“When I finally found out what happened, I thought, ‘Wow, these staff were looking after my kids when they weren’t being paid’,” she said.
She also wondered why for-profit companies were allowed to be in the childcare business.
“The blending of government subsidies creates too many incentives for businesses who see the dollar signs. It’s the same for aged care and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS),” she said.
“My husband and I haven’t bothered seeking alternative daycare centres because they all seem the same.
“There’s not a lot of competition; they all have daily fees that are astronomically high and provide the same services.
“I’d like to see a service where you can leave the kids for a few hours, pay for it and it doesn’t cost a fortune.”
Region asked Genius Childcare if it had resolved pay complaints and whether it could advise parents if staff resignations would lead to any centre closures this week or the next. The company did not respond.
We also contacted the United Workers Union to ask what assistance it was providing to affected members, but it said the union spokesperson was not available for comment.
If you know more about this issue, email ojacques@region.com.au.
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