Child Care News

Keep preschool spend pledge: Labor senator
7 News - Matt Coughlan - September 11, 2019

New Labor senator Marielle Smith has urged the opposition to stick with its election policy of funding pre-school for three year olds as the party weighs up its entire platform. Federal Labor is reviewing the policies it took to a crushing loss at the May federal election, with all taxation and spending...

Fairfield childcare centres rated: worst and best revealed
The Daily Telegraph - Tony Ibrahim, Christpher Harris, Fairfield Advance - September 11, 2019

Fairfield City’s 112 childcare centres have been graded, revealing it is home to some of the best and worst services in NSW. Data from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority found 62 childcare centres either meet or exceed the national quality standard...

Community Kids Brinsmead to close on October 4
Cairns Post - Alicia Nally - September 11, 2019

Parents have launched a petition in a desperate bid to keep a suburban Cairns daycare centre open. Last week, mums and dads of children who attend Community Kids Brinsmead on Loridan Dr wer told the business would close on October 4. Twenty people have signed a petition posted...

Motion on Early Learning Matters Week and supporting professional pay endorsed by Senate
The Sector - Jason Roberts - September 11, 2019

A motion requesting that the first week of September was Early Learning Matters Week and that the Senate support a well resourced and accessible early childhood education system with professional pay was agreed to at yesterday’s sitting of the Senate. The motion was brought by ...

OPINION Another official Australian report has been doctored to gloss over rising inequality
UNSW - Peter Saunders - September 11, 2019

Every two years since 1993 the AIHW has produced a report that presents reliable and detailed information about the need for and provision of welfare services such as aged care, child care, education, housing and disability services. Every two years since 1993 the Australian Institute...

Nannies over day care? Parents want more flexibility for childcare subsidies
Sydney Morning Herald - Fergus Hunter - September 11, 2019

Half of the Australian families receiving childcare subsidies would prefer to spend the payments on informal alternatives like leaving children with relatives, friends or nannies. That is the key finding of a new paper published by the Centre for Independent Studies, which argues billions of dollars...

Leopold and Grovedale childcare centres to test the booming sector at portfolio auction
News.com.au - Peter Farago - September 11, 2019

A GEELONG building boom in the childcare sector has created a cash cow for developers cashing in on population growth. A pair of childcare centres with outstanding investment credentials become the latest to add fuel of the booming Geelong childcare market. The centres...

Hundreds of thousands more paid carers needed as population gets older
The Australian - Stephen Lunn - September 11, 2019

The welfare workforce comprises residential care workers (179,000), preschool education and childcare workers (185,000) and 186,000 workers in other social­ assistance services. It is a ­female-dominated sector, with 87 per cent of workers being women compared with 47 per cent...

Why private equity beats 'arse-covering' boards
Financial Review - James Thomson - September 11, 2019

The firm manages more than $10 billion on behalf of Australian clients, including more than 20,000 retail clients, over 50 family offices and almost 20 institutional investors. The group’s investments in Australia include childcare group Guardian Early Learning (which it acquired in 2016 for $440 million)...

$1 an hour - how working mums get dudded on tax
Financial Review - Craig Emerson - September 10, 2019

On returning to work, women have to contend with their marginal income tax rates, like everyone else. But if they are receiving family tax benefit based on family income, they will be penalised by their male partner’s income, such that the household will lose some family tax benefit...

Spike in viral gastro cases at NSW childcare centres
Sydney Morning Herald - Jenny Noyes - September 10, 2019

A spike in viral gastro cases at childcare centres around NSW has prompted a warning to parents to keep their sick children at home until well after their symptoms have subsided. NSW Health’s acting manager of enteric and zoonotic diseases, Keira Glasgow, said at least 820 children...

Blacktown childcare: One third of centres fall short of national standards
The Daily Telegraph - Kate Lockley and Christopher Harris - September 10, 2019

More than a third of childcare centres in the Blacktown region have fallen short of national standards, according to the latest data. A recent report from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) shows up to 80 childcare service providers in the Blacktown...

Financial stress weighs heavily on expectant parents
WA Today - Emily Chantiri - September 10, 2019

The couple are among than one million employed Australian families either expecting a child or who have recently had a child this year, with almost all taking some form of maternity leave. New research reveals that planning for a baby causes greater financial stress than...

Inside the fire: Evacuees speak of Peregian fire terror
Geelong Advertiser - September 10, 2019

Staff at Edge Early Learning in Peregian Breeze have taken to the streets to thank emergency services currently battling to control a fierce blaze closing in on Marcus Beach. The childcare team were told to evacuate at 6pm yesterday as fire threatened the area...

State government support needed to shore up Stockton's fragile coastline
Newcastle Herald - Donna Page - September 10, 2019

COASTAL erosion experts will visit Stockton beach on Wednesday to assess the need for further sandbags to prevent the former childcare centre and a road from slipping into the ocean. City of Newcastle began emergency sandbagging along Barrie Crescent on Saturday...