General News
5 March, 2026
Child care: The promise that avoided scrutiny
RECOLLECTIONS of the phone call remain strong ... it’s five minutes before 5pm on a Friday, less than a day before voters were heading to the polls to decide whether Peter Dutton would be prime minister or Anthony Albanese got to keep the front door keys for The Lodge.
On the line was Labor’s central Victorian stalwart Marg Lewis. She said there was good news for Loddon with $5 million for childcare but the announcement had to be “made public” by 5pm for it to be locked-in.
Three minutes later an email arrived from Ms Lewis with an attachment on the letterhead of Mallee candidate Greg Olsen.
“A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will invest up to $5 million towards building a new child care service in Loddon. We’ve already made child care cheaper for more than a million Australian families. But we know that in some areas, families are still struggling to find a local childcare place.”
The announcement had been dated April 28, a day before a Loddon Herald forum for candidates in the seat of Mallee, an event where Mr Olsen didn’t say boo about the commitment and answered questions, including from Inglewood and District Community Bank that had started pushing for a southern Loddon centre, without making any pledges.
By that Friday evening, the view was that more money was on the table for childcare in Loddon. Wedderburn had already won its community campaign to have a centre built, the State Government had started construction on land at Wedderburn College.
In the months that followed, the re-elected Federal Government said it would honour the commitment but not a word about the money paying for what was underway in Wedderburn.
The same when Ripon MP Martha Haylett turned up for a ceremonial sod turning. Not boo that in fact the Feds were chipping in for the State Government’s project.
Even Loddon Shire councillors when in Canberra, went lobbying for the $5 million to be invested in other local communities where childcare is scarcer than hen’s teeth.
Suddenly, at least to Loddon people, the State and Federal Governments last week announced a new childcare partnership and, surprise, money in that pot has already been spent.
There is no more childcare for Loddon than that first promised by state Labor, and also the Coalition, in 2022.
Yet both governments have allowed local communities to have false hope since that sans-Wedderburn announcement by Mr Olsen in May 2025 and trumpeting by State and Federal Governments since.
Sneaky, unethical, lacking openness and transparency have been among the reactions in conversations over the past week trying to get to the bottom of the “mystery” $5 million. Once confirmed - that the State Government had got its mitts on the cash - perhaps Cr David Weaver summed up reactions best. A con, he said.
How did this happen? There was no local engagement, no chance for scrutiny - just a delayed, last-minute announcement emailed out hours before polling booths opened.
Mr Olsen has not been seen or heard since (his campaign itself was almost equally as lacklustre). Federal minister Jess Walsh, responding to regular inquiries, answered questions but not once said the money was already committed. And in the clamour to claim credit, the state MPs rather conveniently omitted any mention of receiving cash help from Canberra.
It was only this week that both governments made a “clean breast” of the situation and linked Wedderburn with a couple of handfuls of other new childcare centres with an announcement ... made in Melbourne.
Yes, we’re all grateful that the childcare (early learning) centre has been built and opened in Wedderburn.
The Federal Government allowed false hope to emerge of more due it its economical use of words in a last-ditch pitch for votes ... and did nothing to dispel those hopes for almost a year.
It’s a funny way of doing business with country communities where memories are sharp and long.
As David Weaver said this week, the fight goes on.