Child Care News
Coronavirus threat prompts health emergency laws to be rushed through Queensland Parliament
ABC News - Lexy Hamilton-Smith - February 4, 2020New laws allowing authorities to have more time to find and potentially detain suspected coronavirus victims are being rushed through the Queensland Parliament. However, Mr Miles said, so far, no-one had refused an order to self-isolate or stay away from schools, child care...
News Corp targets preschooler literacy with its 2020 Raise a Reader campaign
Mumbrella - February 4, 2020News Corp Australia has partnered with Good Start Early Learning Centres and the Australian Library and Information Service for its 2020 Raise a Reader campaign addressing preschooler literacy. Preschoolers will be the focus of News Corp Australia’s annual Raise a Reader campaign...
Drug-using childcare worker allowed to care for kids
The Courier Mail - Natasha Bita - February 4, 2020A junkie was allowed to care for kids in a Queensland daycare centre, despite an official sanction for placing children at risk. Queensland’s Education Department yesterday refused to identify the childcare worker, who was required to take random drug tests for six months while looking after...
Bamaga Enterprises sponsors new playground for community childcare centre
The Cairns Post - Jack Lawrie - February 4, 2020Children from a small Cape York community will be able to play in safety thanks to a $50,000 funding boost to upgrade the playground at a Bamaga childcare centre. Bamaga Enterprises Ltd has contributed the $50,000 funding to improve the safety of the community childcare...
Childcare costs increase again, says Productivity Commission
The Australian - Yoni Bashan - February 3, 2020The cost of childcare has risen across the country again, while subsidised care services have drastically fallen, according to the latest Productivity Commission report into the sector. The report found that 50 hours of childcare amounted to a median weekly cost of $500 across all...
Childcare economics better in Victoria says Mayfield boss
Australian Financial Review - Simon Evans - February 3, 2020ASX-listed childcare group Mayfield Childcare Limited says the supply and demand economics in the sector are better in Victoria than in other states and predicts more rationalisation across the industry. Mayfield chief executive Dean Clarke said on Monday that higher...
New Harcourt early learning centre on the way thanks to government grant
Bendigo Advertiser - Tara Cosoleto - February 3, 2020A new early learning facility will be built in Harcourt after the YMCA received a $550,000 government grant. The new facility will ensure families can access kindergarten programs and family services in the same space. The Harcourt Uniting Church had been providing a space for...
Caringbah Presbyterian Church and residents object to Catholic Church childcare centre plans on traffic grounds
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader - Murray Trembath - February 3, 2020A proposal for a new childcare centre in the grounds of the Catholic Church and schools at Caringbah has drawn objections from the adjoining Presbyterian Church and nearby residents. Their concerns are about traffic congestion, which is already at a high level during school...
2019-nCoV is a Public Health Emergency – what does that mean for ECEC?
The Sector - Freya Lucas - February 3, 2020The unfolding international novel coronavirus situation, the correct term for which is 2019-nCoV, has caused some concern within the early childhood education and care community, with a number of educators and providers seeking guidance as to the best ways to ensure the safety...
Kidz Galore seeks Attorney General intervention to stay on site as park pressure grows
The Sector - Freya Lucas - February 3, 2020The City of Vincent is seeking intervention from West Australia Attorney General John Quigley to support a resolution that would delay the removal of early childhood education and care service Kidz Galore Pty Ltd from its North Perth home to make way for parkland at Haynes Street Reserve...
Daylesford Community Child Care gets inclusivity makeover via Government funding
The Sector - Freya Lucas - February 3, 2020Children living in the Victorian town of Daylesford are set to “get the best out of their time at Kinder” thanks to upgrades being undertaken at Daylesford Community Child Care Centre, Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas recently announced. Daylesford Community was one of ...
More proof Australia needs a radical new approach to childcare
Women's Agenda - Georgina Dent - February 3, 2020In 2018 the federal government introduced a $2.5 billion childcare package to ease the cost of early childhood education and care for Australian families. On Sunday the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the expected cost savings to parents have virtually been eradicated...
Our classroom tech obsession puts young minds at risk
Riot ACT - Ian Bushnell - February 3, 2020As ACT families prepared to head back to school last week, education reporters were busy working up clicks about how the modern child could not get by without technology. Without tablets, laptops, mobiles, USBs and the internet, the argument went, a child’s future is compromised...
Geelong council review of child care fees finds families not overcharged
The Daily Telegraph - Harrison Tippet, Geelong Advertiser - February 3, 2020An investigation into “accounting issues” at a council-run child care centre has resulted in a full investigation and a review of fees and rebates at all of the city’s child care centres. The City of Greater Geelong confirmed it had discovered the accounting issues that arose from amendments...
Childcare package all but gone 18 months after introduction
The Sydney Morning Herald - Shane Wright and Judith Ireland - February 2, 2020The federal government's $2.5 billion childcare package has dried up for some parents just 18 months after its introduction as operators drive up prices more than three times faster than the rate of inflation. So concerned is the government over how its signature childcare policy is being eroded...
