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The Forum > Article Comments > Hard headed corporations > Comments

Hard headed corporations : Comments

By David Ritter, published 20/3/2008

There are some areas of human life that should not be trusted to the market. Childcare is one.

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Businesses operate to make money.

Money comes from satisfied customers.

In the long term, the only way to satisfy customers is to provide an efficient and caring service.

No doubt some companies will try to rip people off and take shortcuts -- as ABC seems to have done financially, at least. No complaints have been raised about their care, as far as I know.

And as Ross Gittins points out with reference to this area, government subsidies ALWAYS distort markets and prevent them from operating as effectively as they could. But I'd much rather choose to pay for an efficient private service than be forced to pay much more in taxes for a bureaucratic Tower of Babel.
Posted by Jon J, Sunday, 23 March 2008 4:20:00 PM
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Next “Regulators regulate less and less, particularly in protecting the commons, which have now been sold to corporate interests”

That is the fault of the government, not the model which promotes a clear separation between regulators and operators.

I believe such situations occur when the people who staff regulatory roles are too close to the businesses they are supposed to be regulating and swap positions between both to advance their career progression.

I believe if you allow government to behave as owner operators, their role as regulator will be diminished even further than you are saying it has done now and the consumer will be even worse off.

I cite Telstra and the duopoly which existed between Qantas and Ansett when Qantas was government owned as examples.

Jon J I agree totally with your post.
Posted by Col Rouge, Sunday, 23 March 2008 11:09:44 PM
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We have had privately run nursing homes for the frail elderly for well over 30 years now. Some are well run, but there are many horror stories about badly run homes where patients lie in their own urine for hours on end, or the budget is 70 cents per meal per patient.
The nursing home building is owned by one organisation and you pay $100,000 to the owners of the building, the patient pays 90% of the aged pension as board to the operators of the building. Often the management of the day to day operations is let out to management company who releases a small amount of money to the nursing staff to run the joint.

ABC Learning Centres have applied this model of operation to child care.

I don't think it's appropriate to make money out caring for the most vulnerable in our society and some of the organisations involved in aged care are not pleasant people, nor is ABC.

Australia's mish mash of child care is now a very expensive system, which costs the federal government almost as much as their schools subsidy, 80%. These funds flow to Temansek ie the Singapore government. Additionally the rebate system means that parents have to wait 18 months to get their tax rebate.

While we are about it - the tax rebate on private health insurance is another expensive way the government props up private enterprise and society would be better off with a more equitable arrangement.
Posted by billie, Monday, 24 March 2008 5:02:45 PM
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The rise of corporate childcare has been a backward step for Australia, for the reasons the author states, and because parents have less involvement than in a community run centre.

The people who have written in comments seem to be looking at this as a stereotypical private/public ideological argument (waste of time reading it). They seem to be unaware of the fact that most child care centres have historically been community run centres, with funding from government, and that has resulted in community committees, transparency and care for the whole child in the family.

When they are grown up enough to have children, your commentators might wish there were more community child care centres.
Posted by Barbie, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 1:46:21 PM
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Billie “I don't think it's appropriate to make money out caring for the most vulnerable in our society and some of the organisations involved in aged care are not pleasant people, nor is ABC.”

Then you can offer your services for free.

Beyond that, people are able and capable of availing themselves of the child care or geriatric care of their choice and capacity.

Neither service is something which is necessarily better dispensed by a government charged with the responsibilities of a regulatory authority.

And I would note from your comment “there are many horror stories about badly run homes where patients lie in their own urine for hours on end, or the budget is 70 cents per meal per patient.”

If that is the case, the ability of said regulatory authority to discharge those duties does not stand up to much scrutiny if, as you say patients lie in their own urine, whilst the government inspectors would seem to turn a blind eye.

All that you say suggests, if their derelict discharge of their regulatory responsibility is an example, they will be even worse at actually running a facility.

Barbie “because parents have less involvement than in a community run centre.”

Having the authority to stop payments and move to another private centre is all the influence and all the involvement needed, when compared to being shafted by a government operated monopoly.

“When they are grown up enough to have children, your commentators might wish there were more community child care centres.”

The next round of child-care attendees who follow my line will be my grandchildren.

Do not presume the age of a poster simply because you are driven to negate their argument or based on your own ignorance. It merely confirms what might otherwise have been be debatable, that you are a fool
Posted by Col Rouge, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 2:31:11 PM
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Col, I was going to make a reply to some of the foolish things said in this discussion, but I'm glad I didn't as you said it all very well. Good job.
Posted by Countryboy, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 2:35:15 PM
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