Selling Child Care centres - A world bound by the bottom line

My local Council - Newcastle City Council - is exploring whether it should sell the Child Care Centres that it ‘owns.’ It seems to me to be another example of the way in which local government, which should be focused on the needs of the community and on the common good, has bought into the narrative of the bottom line, and minimal services.

Of course Councils have to be concerned about their budgets, and they have to work within the constraints imposed by the State Government around rate levels. There is no doubt that Councils are caught between the demands of citizens and stark economic realities, but the issue is the narrative or meaning story that shapes the response.

Take the Child Care Centres. Child Care Centres are one of the ways in which communities seek the care of their children, and the well-being of families. If we agree with that then we can either see this as an issue of the common good that needs to be nurtured by the community as a whole through bodies like local councils. Or we can see it is an issue for individuals, who should simply access child care through private providers, and one in which councils should not be involved.

I belong to a Christian tradition that says that the world is not simply about individual freedom and choices, or a world whose shape is dictated by economic choices in which those with more wealth have a bigger voice. There is a common good, because human beings are essentially social rather than solitary creatures. The well-being of individuals is tied to the well-being of the community. Each person is called to contribute to social conditions that allow all people to be cared for and to reach their full potential as human beings.

I think that Newcastle City Councilors need to re-think their approach to the issue of possible sale of Child Care Centres. The issue is: what can the Council do to contribute to the well-being of the community, and not simply how does it provide space of r individuals to do their thing? The issue may be how this is to be funded, but the starting issue is not about money but services. The budget is built and trimmed around the core services of the Council, many of which are simply not measurable in economic terms, rather than the other way around.

Besides, even at a straight economic level this move is foolish. The Council doesn’t own all the land, mostly the buildings. The Child Care Centres cover their own running costs. There will be little saved in operating costs. There may be a relatively small capital gain from selling the services to others, but this will make no long term difference to the Council budgets. It will simply deplete the Councils role and contribution to the common good of the community.