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A Slow Learner

Monday, 8th May, 2006  

The founder and chief executive of ABC Learning Centres Eddie Groves, who has built a company with a share market value over $2 billion, does not seem to realise that governments have the capacity to take away as well as to give.

His business providing child care has grown so rapidly because of government money provided to parents to help pay for it.

Certainly within the Labor Party there is considerable disquiet that child care has become a for-profit business. The whinging and whining of Mr Groves over a $200 fine imposed on his company for breaching the Children's Services Act is adding to that disquiet.

The very nature of the child care business is sure to become an important part of Labor's next election campaign and investors should be aware, even if Mr Groves isn't, that what governments give they can also take away.