Childcare operator run by ex-Lib candidate forced to close services
An after-school childcare operator forced to shut down 74 services in NSW this year due to unspecified “risks to children” has separately reported an unusually high rate of absences at a Victorian school.
Big Childcare, which was founded by Victorian businessman Ted Hatzakortzian, had some of its licences terminated by the NSW Education Department in the first and second terms of the school year, disrupting the care of 1400 children across the state.
Meanwhile, documents provided to The Australian Financial Review showed that a Big Childcare service at a Melbourne primary school recorded absences of 40 to 51 per cent in 2022.
Childcare operators receive federal childcare subsidies for bookings even if children don’t turn up. Because parents have to pay either way, daily absences above 10 per cent are unusual.
Mr Hatzakortzian is active in the Victorian Liberal Party and ran against former Labor leader Bill Shorten in the seat of Maribyrnong in the 2016 and 2019 elections.
He said the figures for the Ashley Park Primary School in northern Melbourne were incorrect, and nothing wrong could have taken place because parents would have realised if they were billed for childcare they didn’t schedule.
“I don’t know how whatever data have you received could be accurate,” he said. “If you don’t turn up of course you get an absent fee. Non-attendance is between 5 and 10 per cent.”
Big Childcare CEO Ted Hatzakortzian
The bookings information was originally sent to other operators by the Ashley Park Primary School to help them submit bids to take over the operations.
A competitive poker player and former manager in the childcare division of the Victorian Department of Education, Mr Hatzakortzian established Big Childcare about six
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