Child Care News
Legislation to lower the school starting is on the edge as it heads to the Legislative Council
The Mercury - Loretta Lohberger & Blair Richards - October 18, 2016The Government wants to introduce a voluntary minimum starting age of four and a half years for Prep, which would also allow children as young as three and a half to enter Kindergarten. The compulsory school starting age for Prep would remain at five years. Opposition education spokeswoman...
It's that time of year when women like me find out if we can afford to go to work
Sydney Morning Herald - Saman Shad - October 17, 2016So here I am, with a six-month-old who as yet doesn't have a childcare space for next year. I am of course not the only one in such a predicament. A recent Fairfax survey showed the extent of the issue. Depending on where you lived, wait-times for a childcare spot could be as high as three years...
Could a 9-to-5 school day be the modern day answer for working parents?
News.com.au - Vanessa Brown - October 17, 2016IT'S the question working parents frequently ask themselves - why aren't school times aligned with regular working hours? While most Australian public schools generally start around 9am, the last bell chimes around 3pm - a whole two hours before their parents generally knock off from work...
Victorian male dominance program for kindy
The Australian - Rebecca Urban - October 17, 2016Victorian preschoolers will be exposed to a controversial program that associates masculinity with dominance, control and violence against women when it is rolled out next year. The state's Education Department is inviting early childhood educators to enrol in respectful relationships training...
The stay-at-home Dad debate: 'When are you getting a real job?'
News.com.au - Debbie Schipp - October 16, 2016Last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data showing the number of dads using flexible working arrangements to care for their children has doubled since the mid 1990s. "Around 30 per cent of dads took advantage of flexible work hours to look after young children (under 12)"...
Childcare rorting estimated at billions but only five investigators nationwide
The Age - Nick McKenzie & Beau Donelly - October 15, 2016The federal government has relied on fewer than five departmental investigators across Australia to probe child care fraud estimated to run into the billions of dollars. As state and federal education ministers scramble to deal with the long-standing rorting of Family Day Care subsidies, a Fairfax...
Students screwed by VET loans shake-up
News.com.au - Charis Chang - October 14, 2016In a statement to news.com.au, Education Minister Simon Birmingham said he "made no apologies" for ensuring taxpayer money was used to support students doing courses with strong employment outcomes to ensure they could afford to pay back their government loan. "Australians rightly expect...
Labor senators mull changes to paid parental leave super
Financial Review - Primrose Riordan - October 13, 2016Shadow Minister for Small Business and Financial Services Katy Gallagher has backed Labor's policy to push for women and men to be paid superannuation when they are on paid parental leave. Currently employers are not required to make superannuation contributions when their...
Should there be different rules for stay at home parents?
The Daily Telegraph - Vanessa Croll - October 12, 2016The long standing feud between stay-at-home parents and working parents was reignited recently when a preschool decided it would punish only non-working parents for picking children up late. The matter was reported on Kidspot, when a letter from the unnamed preschool was posted to an...
Moelis raises $18.75m for Paisley''s G8 childcare properties
Financial Review - Matthew Cranston - October 12, 2016Chinese significant investment visa holders have been the main backers in Moelis Australia Asset Management''s $18.75 million raising for the purchase of portfolio of childcare centres from listed group G8 Education. Moelis used its high net worth investor base, a majority from China, to raise the capital...
Single women can't afford to live in the city and men can. Is that fair?
The Guardian - Van Badham and Gabrielle Jackson - October 11, 2016The ongoing underpayment of early childhood educators illustrates two simultaneous disadvantages felt by Australian women. Arguments against raising pay in this industry to the comparable standard enjoyed by men with similar qualifications, such as construction workers or plasterers, are made...
Canberra negligent on daycare fraud, say states
The Australian - Rick Morton - October 11, 2016An ugly fight over who should pay to stop fraud in the family daycare sector threatens to swamp the next education ministers council, with one state minister warning rorts worth more than $1 billion will continue unless the federal government invests in prevention. Under the National Quality...
Family day care rorts cost our children's educational future dearly
The Australian - Simon Birmingham - October 11, 2016Many Australian parents choose family daycare for its flexible hours of operation and homelike environment, and so they can keep siblings together. Which is why the rorting of this system by some operators is so concerning: to the Turnbull government, the states and territories, to honest, high...
Food allergies: Childcare centre slammed for extreme food ban
The Courier Mail - Jackie Sinnerton - October 8, 2016A QUEENSLAND child care facility has imposed a breakfast ban on youngsters eating nuts or nut products at home, to protect kids with allergies. While the 70 families at the West End Community Childcare Centre in Brisbane have embraced the breakfast ban, allergy experts claim the...
Effective childcare policy begins with closing loopholes, rorts
The Australian - Judith Sloan - October 8, 2016By 2019-20, it is estimated that $12.2bn will be paid out in childcare fee assistance, an increase of nearly 50 per cent relative to this year, assuming the government's ill-considered Jobs for Families program is implemented. It is truly astonishing that the government would be contemplating ramping...
