A LETTER from Victoria University pro vice-chancellor Greg Baxter to parents last Friday confirmed that a lease agreement had been reached with the state government to keep the Newport campus childcare centre open until the end of next year.
As reported by the Weekly, families affected by the imminent closure of Newport Children’s Centre signalled their intent to rally on Friday.
Children and Early Childhood Development Minister Wendy Lovell intervened and the ‘closure’ decision was reversed.
As part of VU’s lease agreement with the Treasury and Finance Department for $350,000 a year, all buildings were to be demolished when the university vacated.
However, the government has agreed to allow the 26-year-old centre, which provides care for 78 children and was originally slated to close at the year’s end, to be excised and stay open.
The day after the Weekly’s report, Ms Lovell said the government had advised the university that a lease could be negotiated until the end of next year.
Mr Baxter’s letter to parents last Friday stated: “The university has been successful in negotiating an extension to the lease of the Newport campus site at a reduced cost with the Department of Treasury and Finance, making it financially affordable for the university to keep the children’s centre operating for one more year.
“This will give more time to make alternative childcare arrangements for 2014, noting that a new childcare centre is being built at Newport Gardens, not far from the university’s Newport campus children’s centre, with a planned opening of January 2014.”
National Tertiary Education Union president and Friends of Victoria University spokesman Paul Adams said it was “terrific news for parents” who would otherwise have been stranded next year.
Maree Baird, the mother of 10-month-old Astrid and a project manager at the Centre for Adult Education, had said that if the centre closed she would have to leave her job.
When told the good news by the Weekly on Friday, Ms Baird’s partner, Allan Thomas, said it was “an absolute burden off my shoulders”.
“Obviously, the financial aspect is really important, you know. We’ve got a mortgage and a small child and that’s a huge [relief], her being able to work.
“But it also means that she’ll be able to maintain her skills and develop her career and maybe, more importantly, emotionally.
“Astrid is just so happy at that childcare centre.”
