Remember how the government, coming into an election, poured a whole lot of money into childcare subsdies? In the process inflating childcare fees and giving a huge cash bonus to corporate childcare operators. Well, the minister behind that move was Larry Anthony, at the time Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Well bugger me. Larry lost his seat in the election and now he’s been appointed a director of Australia’s largest corporate childcare operator, ABC Learning Centres.

This fully and completely stinks. This sort of thing should be illegal. At the very least there should be a code of conduct stopping a minister from stepping into a board role less than a year after being the relevant federal minister!

LHMU Childcare: Ex-Howard Minister joins board of ABC Learning Centres

ABC: Larry Anthony’s new job stirs conflict of interest claims