Goodstart grows despite trend
AUSTRALIA’S biggest childcare operator Goodstart says it has bucked industry trends and lifted occupancy levels.
The increase at Brisbanebased Goodstart, a not-forprofit venture, comes despite an oversupply of childcare facilities weakening attendance figures at rival operators.
Goodstart also posted an improvement in earnings to $8 million for 2018, but pressure was evident with wages rising at a faster pace than revenues.
It also warned the oversupply of centres could deepen problems with a shortage of early education teachers.
Born out of the ashes of stockmarket giant ABC Learning’s collapse in 2008, Goodstart’s backers include Mission Australia. It has 644 centres and provides for 70,900 children.
The occupancy level in July this year was 81.2 per cent, and had risen 1.2 per cent in 2018 and 0.9 per cent in 2017.
“It’s continuing to grow,” Goodstart chief executive Julia Davison told News Corp Australia.
She said the improvement was due to measures enacted in the past half-decade.
“We’ve been investing in our buildings and (our) people, in their professional development and their wages … so the quality of our services is much higher,” she said.
She said the childcare operator was not immune from the sector’s oversupply of centres, sparked by a rush of investors.