Child Care News
Childcare rescue package a welcome relief
The Canberra Times - Katina Curtis and Finbar O'Mallon - April 3, 2020Childcare operators and parents are examining the government's plan to make all care free during the coronavirus crisis to see how it will help them. At the same time, the prime minister is being urged to speak directly to Australian children about COVID-19 and the government's response...
Childcare package is not only generous, it's uncomplicated
Australian Financial Review - Robert Bolton - April 2, 2020The generosity of the government's package is not just in the $1.6 billion to be handed over in cash in the next three months, it's the logistics which are going to make business easier for childcare operators. The first payment will be made next Monday, directly into providers' bank accounts...
Free childcare to prop up Australian economy
Australian Financial Review - Andrew Tillett and Robert Bolton - April 2, 2020Listed childcare operators saw their share price skyrocket by 25 per cent off the back of the Morrison government's announcement childcare would be free for almost one million families. One provider, G8 Education, was forced into a trading halt after the government threw the sector...
The PM has announced that families can access free childcare during the coronavirus pandemic. How will that work?
ABC News - Kelsie Iorio - April 2, 2020The childcare sector has been plunged into uncertainty as the coronavirus pandemic continues to develop. On Thursday, the PM made a pretty big announcement to try and save the sector & that child care will be free. But what does that actually mean in practice, who is eligible...
'Are we safe?': Relief at free childcare but parents' doubts remain
The Age - Bianca Hall and Anna Prytz - April 2, 2020To reach their local childcare centre, government employee Natasha* and her partner cycle several times a week past two playgrounds that are now taped off. Authorities have deemed the playgrounds an unacceptable coronavirus risk; however the nearby childcare centre, filled with...
Childcare Alliance reassures parents it's safe to re-enrol
2GB - Ben Fordham and Lyn Connolly - April 2, 2020Childcare centres are breathing a sigh of relief thanks to a $1.6 billion federal government injection to prevent the sector's collapse and ease the strain on working parents. Around one million families financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic will receive free childcare through...
SafeWork issues specific guidance for ECEC on managing COVID-19 risks
The Sector - Freya Lucas - April 2, 2020While many early childhood education and care (ECEC) services still operational around Australia, service owners, operators and leaders are conscious of their obligations in relation to Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws which require all employers to take care of the health and safety of...
Coronavirus Australia: Who will be able to access free childcare?
News.com.au - Ally Foster - April 2, 2020Around one million Australian families will be eligible for free childcare, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a new plan to help out working parents. Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Morrison announced a relief package that would come into effect from Sunday night...
PM to announce childcare support package
SkyNews Australia - April 2, 2020About four per cent of childcare centres across the country have already been forced to close their doors due to the pandemic. The support package is expected to be announced when Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the nation later today...
Coronavirus crisis leaves childcare industry pleading for Child Care Subsidy help to avoid 'mass closures'
ABC News - Briana Shepherd - April 2, 2020It has operated for almost 50 years and weathered more than one recession - but for WA's Schools of Early Learning, the COVID-19 crisis now stands as the biggest threat to its existence it has ever faced. The childcare service now says it is "stuck between a rock and a hard place" as it tries...
Childcare is on the ropes - and nurses and doctors can’t work without it
Sydney Morning Herald - Lisa Bryant - April 2, 2020Napoleon Bonaparte was once asked why he ordered a dental chair to be loaded on to a ship sailing off to war. (Apocryphally?) His answer was that a soldier with a tooth ache was of no use to him. Updating this to the COVID-19 era, a doctor or a nurse with young children and no childcare is of no use to the nation...
Coronavirus: Gold Coast childcare operators struggling to survive COVID-19 crisis
Gold Coast Bulletin - Emily Toxward - April 2, 2020THE coronavirus pandemic is crippling Gold Coast childcare providers, with dozens on the brink of closing as out-of-work parents can’t afford to pay their fees so are pulling kids out. “Childcare centres aren’t going to exist and there’s going to be a huge childcare crisis on the Gold Coast...
Coronavirus: Childcare giant begs for more virus help
9News - AAP - April 2, 2020Australia's largest childcare provider is warning it will need help if it is to keep centres open throughout the coronavirus crisis and beyond. Goodstart Early Learning runs 665 childcare centres around the country, employing 16,000 people. But with parents pulling children out of care in droves...
Child care crisis looming on other side of pandemic
The Courier Mail - Matthew Killoran - April 2, 2020Parents pulling their children from child care while centres are urged to remain open during the pandemic is driving businesses to the edge. There are fears it will create massive shortages when mums and dads head back to work. Australians are being warned a childcare shortage...
Editorial: Governments must step in for childcare
The Mercury - April 2, 2020PARENTS of young children and operators of childcare centres have been left in a hopeless situation as they are caught up in the coronavirus crisis. While both state and federal governments understandably have their hands full trying to fight the war against COVID-19 on two fronts...
