Photo: © 2008 AAP/PAUL MILLER

Thirty-eight of Labor's 260 promised centres have been built since the party took office at the last election.

But as of yesterday, the remaining 222 have been officially scrapped.

Child Care Minister Kate Ellis has defended the decision as the right thing to do for parents.

"The evidence tells us that an injection of more centres could threaten the viability of existing services and cause disruption for Australian families, just as the market is settling after the collapse of ABC Learning,'' she said.

The government says 30 per cent of long day places are currently unused, and 91 per cent of childcare centres have vacancies.

But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has slammed the decision as "a colossal breach of faith".

"The government is asking us to believe that it has miraculously solved the childcare problem by doing virtually nothing.

"Now this is utterly implausible, but it is so typical of this Government."