And while we’re returning to traditional Labor values, like industry subsidy and regional multilateral architecture … it may be high time to take a Chifleyite view of childcare.

The previous government saddled us with this uncomfortable marriage of government subsidy and predatory private operators, a position that now seems to be increasingly uncomfortable for parents and Government alike, as ABC Learning twists and turns, milking government money in the hope of something close to profit.

Childcare subsidies will cost the Australian taxpayer $1.6 billion over the next four years, an investment into a sector that leaves government with a big bill but no control over the actions of operators, one of whom, conspicuously, is now attempting to monetise July’s subsidy hike today in its desperate corporate death throes. It might be better, dare we say it, to turn those funds from subsidy to acquisition. And then there’s the banks…