Child Care News
Greater Hume Council taking on more childcare amid 'overwhelming' regulation
The Border Mail - Ellen Ebsary - January 30, 2021Complicated childcare funding arrangements and paperwork are "beyond reasonable" for any community-based organisation, Greater Hume Council...
Melinda Gates tells governments to think about childcare as ‘essential infrastructure’
Women's Agenda - Madeline Hislop - January 30, 2021Melinda Gates has called on governments to start thinking about childcare as “essential infrastructure” as they rebuild economies amid the COVID-19 crisis. In the annual Bill and Melinda Gates letter, Melinda Gates wrote that her major focus over the past year has been calling on world leaders...
Childcare costs in Sydney and Brisbane reach record highs
SmartCompany - Georgina Dent - January 29, 2021In news that’s unlikely to surprise many parents in Australia familiar with paying for early childhood education and care, out-of-pocket fees for childcare have, once again, risen sharply. The national consumer price index (CPI) figures released on Wednesday indicate that in the December ...
Labor supporting jobs and families with outside school hours care extension
Mirage News - Tasmanian Labour - January 29, 2021A Labor Government would extend outside school hours care in state schools to help parents and families return to the workforce in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, increase their work hours and enrol in training. Shadow Education and Early Years Minister Josh Willie said now more than ever ...
Port Phillip childcare: Dodgy Elwood, Elsternwick centres exposed in State Government review
Herald Sun - Jordy Atkinson and Susie O’Brien, Port Phillip Leader - January 29, 2021Shocking safety failures have been exposed at childcare centres in Port Phillip and Glen Eira. More than 230 childcare providers across the state were closed or slapped with serious safety notices by authorities from 2018 to 2020, including more than 110 family day care centres found to have ...
Whittlesea childcare: Thomastown, Doreen centres exposed in statewide review
Herald Sun - Susie O’Brien and Kimberley Seedy, Whittlesea Leader - January 29, 2021Dodgy daycare providers in Whittlesea have been exposed in a shocking review of the state’s childcare centres. More than one Victorian childcare provider a week was shut down or censured for serious failings, the review found, while 230 were closed or issued serious safety notices by the...
Kingston childcare: Dodgy Chelsea, Cheltenham, Bentleigh centres exposed in State Government review
Herald Sun - Brittany Goldsmith and Susie O'Brien, Moorabbin Kingston Leader - January 29, 2021Alarming safety failures at Victorian childcare centres have been exposed, with a number of Kingston locations making the list. More than 230 childcare providers across the state were closed or issued with serious safety notices between 2018 and 2020, including more than 110 family day care ...
Harmony Early Learning opens “revolutionary” facility in Hope Island, on Gold Coast
The Sector - Freya Lucas - January 29, 2021Australia’s first facility dedicated and custom designed to implement the findings from a new, evidence-based early learning curriculum, the Active Early Learning (AEL) program, has opened this week. Harmony Early Learning Journey Hope Island will implement the AEL program, which used...
Maroondah Childcare: Dodgy Ringwood, Warranwood centres exposed in statewide review
Herald Sun - Kiel Egging and Susie O’Brien - January 29, 2021Three Maroondah childcare centres have been named and shamed for damning childcare safety breaches in the past two years. And one of them - Warranwood’s Kidz Paradise Family Day Care - was shut down after the government determined it didn’t have “a fit and proper person” to manage...
Education Department projections show cost of childcare rising by $46 to $318 per week by 2024
The Advertiser - Claire Bickers - January 28, 2021Families could be forking out $318 a week on average for childcare in South Australia within four years, based on official price-rise projections. That’s about $46 more a week than families were paying for childcare in SA in 2020. Fees are expected to rise by 4.9 per cent for long day care...
Primewest eyes float of $350m farmland trust
Financial Review - Larry Schlesinger - January 28, 2021Alongside its investment in rural assets, Primewest is also aiming to acquire $150 million of assets over the next 12 months for its open-ended property income fund, which mostly invests in direct property. The fund has been seeded with three childcare centres under contract for $30 million...
Parents urged to keep kids at home amid Adelaide's gastro case surge
9News.com.au - Inga Neilsen - January 28, 2021Parents have been urged to keep their children at home amid Adelaide's surge in gastro cases. SA Health has been notified of 60 outbreaks at childcare centres and aged care facilities across the state this month. A huge spike compared to the four notifications...
Developers pour millions of dollars into Brimbank
Herald Sun - Rebecca DiNuzzo - January 28, 2021Childcare centres and a hotel were among almost $1 billion worth of planning applications considered by Brimbank Council in the past 12 months. Council figures revealed exclusively to the Leader show $888 million worth of planning applications and subdivision certifications were decided...
It's not just the pandemic, stupid. Australia's economy has been weak for years
The Guardian - Greg Jericho - January 28, 2021These prices were also affected by government decisions – most crucially on childcare. Last year, when the government introduced a temporary period of free childcare, prices obviously plummeted. Now that the period is over they have steeply risen back to pre-pandemic levels...
Childcare and cigarettes push up inflation
The Australian - Adam Creighton - January 27, 2021Rising childcare and cigarette costs have pushed the inflation rate a little higher than economists had expected in the final quarter of 2020, leaving the overall increase in prices last year at just under 1 per cent. A 12 per cent rise in tobacco excise in September made up more than...
