rebecca.thistleton@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Parents fight for centre
PARENTS have accused local, state and federal governments of buck-passing ahead of the planned closure of Elsternwick Children’s Centre on Christmas Eve.
Eighteen months after the centre’s impending closure was announced, parents are angry that they have not been offered an alternative in Elsternwick.
The council-run centre was based in a building belonging to Alfred Health’s Caulfield Hospital, which called in the 20-year lease to redevelop the land. Nicole Owen, whose two-year-old son, Liam, attends the centre twice a week, is part of the Save Local Childcare Coalition, a group of parents that has lobbied all levels of government to keep the centre open. Ms Owen said each had handballed responsibility.
‘‘No one will tell us when the site will be developed and our biggest worry is that it will sit vacant for a year or more,’’ she said.
Parents had asked the state government whether the centre could continue operating until the site was redeveloped but had not received a response. Ms Owen said she had tried unsuccessfully to find a place for Liam in several alternative centres and had been offered a transfer to the council-run Caulfield centre.
Glen Eira councillor Neil Pilling said the council needed a long-term childcare strategy to show how future demand would be met. The state government left childcare in the hands of councils, but Glen Eira Council was depending on the private sector to plug holes in the childcare system, which was unrealistic given land prices in the area, he said.
“Developers would make much more money putting units on a block instead of a childcare centre,” he said. “There have been no new childcare centres built in Glen Eira since 1999.”
Health Minister David Davis said the land was needed for a new brain injury facility. He said Glen Eira Council should develop a plan for childcare services to cope with a growing population.
Caulfield MLA David Southwick said parents had been offered places at Caulfield Children’s Centre where all staff would be transferred. Mr Southwick said he approached the education department to find a new site.
Glen Eira Debates 
November 28, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Well done Neil for speaking out. A real pity that your fellow councillors aren’t doing the same. I suggest that you have a little chat with our local MP David Southwick though. If David Davis can stick the boots into this council then I sure don’t see why Southwick can’t. Or is he also a new conscript into the Lipshutz clutches and wouldn’t dare criticise the ruling elite?
November 28, 2011 at 4:51 PM
I don’t pay rates so the Council can look after other peoples children. Council can operate 3 and 4 year old sessional kindergarten but stick to roads, rates and rubbish not child care. These people were offered spots and appear to have knocked them back. Seems to me one of them is trying to move the close date out just enough to meet their needs. Plenty of private child care around.
November 28, 2011 at 6:24 PM
I don’t pay rates to support footballers and grandstands that cost $9 million. One or two pavilions are okay not when the vast majority of rate payer funds are used to continually support a minority of the population. It’s time for some equal sharing isn’t it?
November 28, 2011 at 7:26 PM
If you can’t look after your kids yourself, don’t have em.
November 28, 2011 at 8:10 PM
Roads and rubbish are both undertaken by Contractors so let’s just get rid of the administration cos they do nothing, Newton first **wah wah wah to Jamie**
November 28, 2011 at 3:14 PM
The gang of 4 should come clean on just why they don’t want public child care in Glen Eira. I think it maybe a case of prejudice feelings towards the wider community.
November 28, 2011 at 3:19 PM
Dear Anonymous,
the refrain on child care has been the same for years and years – “not our responsibility – state and federal responsibility.” If you search our previous posts you will find that nearly a decade ago this was Council’s stated position – to divest themselves of all involvement and let private enterprise fill the gaps. Nothing has changed. The agenda remains firmly in place and supported by you know who.
November 29, 2011 at 9:20 AM
look what has happened to Carengie Kindegarten. It has been forced to relocate to the primary school because the land has been sold. So now the school has lost grounds. This is meant to be temporary but we all know it is permanent. The glenhuntly resevoir site will be used for something useless like a soccer pitch. When the MRC decides to give the public land back on the corner of Queens Avenue and Neerim Road what will this land be used for? As well as providing a kindergarten would it not be good to provide a community garden where people can grow fruit and vegies.
November 29, 2011 at 6:34 PM
Provision of infrastructure is all part of Planning. Its one reason I get so cross with Jeff Akehurst and VCAT–neither recognize what Planning really involves. Instead we have some charade about whether a front setback should be 6.5m or 7.5m or how a side set back of 900mm is acceptable if it helps the developer make more money.
We don’t have Planning in Glen Eira, not really, not in the true sense. If you go back say 8 or 9 years, you can read the annual reports authored by Jeff and wonder just what the hell happened subsequently. He certainly looks very complacent now despite the mess he’s nominally responsible for.
Sure Council’s preferred option was to usurp School land because it represented no cost to Council. They have no plan or vision for improving access to open space for residents in the urban ghettos they are so heavily promoting. They certainly have no traffic management strategy beyond the natural consequences of crowding people into confined spaces.
Ultimately we’ve been sold a crock of shit. Expanding the population simply isn’t funding the investment required in infrastructure to support the expansion. There is no such thing as a perpetural motion machine other than in government. There are however Ponzi Schemes.
December 14, 2011 at 12:59 PM
Maybe if Council did not subsidise so many services our rates might not be so high , childcare, community services, recreation services and the list goes on and on. Maybe council should focus on the more important things. As a person whom pays rates and does not use any abovementioned services I don’t see why I should have to subsides these services, it’s bad enough that I have to pay for a Parks levy on my water account.