Child Care News
Demand remains high for childcare centres
Domain - Ray Sparvell - August 26, 2016Canberra's love affair with childcare centres is showing no sign of wavering as another site in Rivett is set to go to auction on September 13 with a commitment from a quality, long-term operator already in place. Selling agent Guy Randell, managing director of Burgess Rawson, says a building...
Bain Capital signs childcare deal, readies permanent Sydney home
Financial Review - August 26, 2016Private equity giant Bain Capital is set to enter the Australian childcare sector with the acquisition of upmarket early learning business Only About Children. Sources told Street Talk that Bain had already agreed terms with Only About Children founder and chief executive Brendan McAssey and...
Arena forecasts a 7.4 per cent dividend increase
The Australian - Turi Condon & Maggie Lu Yeuyang - August 26, 2016Childcare owner Arena REIT is forecasting a 7.4 per cent rise in dividends for the current financial year on the back of rental growth and as it pushes on with 14 new development projects. The company reported a $25.6 million net operating profit for the year ending June 2016, up 16 per cent...
Forget the kids, Scott Morrison: focus on the now
The Australian - Judith Sloan - August 26, 2016While the government is still keen to cut family tax benefits, the plan is to plough the proceeds and more into additional spending on childcare, even though we know that this spending is both wasteful and ineffective. As a member of the outer ministry tells me, people expect their childcare fees...
Almost one in five Victorian childcare centres fall short of national quality standards
Herald Sun - Evonne Madden - August 25, 2016ALMOST one in five Victorian childcare centres are falling short of national quality standards - despite topping the country's preschool rankings. The latest report on the quality of Australia's early childhood system shows Victoria has the highest rate of centres either meeting or exceeding official...
South Australia's Working With Children Checks to be overhauled after royal commission
ABC News - August 23, 2016A plan to overhaul South Australia's Working With Children Checks by introducing portable checks valid for five years and a centralised assessment unit is expected to go before Parliament next month. The proposed changes released by the State Government are in line with recommendations from...
Are you paying too much for before and after-school care?
The Age - Henrietta Cook - August 21, 2016A major change has quietly unfolded at Victorian schools – and it is costing parents a lot of money. Private operators have muscled in on before and after-school care, and now run an estimated 70 per cent of programs in the state. Two decades ago, these services were all run by schools or local...
Family Tax Benefit cut will affect 130,000 families earning more than $100,000
The Daily Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - August 20, 2016FAMILIES earning more than $100,000 who qualify for family welfare supplement payments worth $700 a year are set to lose half that cash under a deal between Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull. But there is some good news - the deal holds the key to resolving delays over promised childcare...
Tasmanian Government ditches plan to lower compulsory school starting age
ABC News - Rosemary Bolger - August 18, 2016The Tasmanian Government has backed down from a plan to lower the compulsory school starting age by six months. The plan to lower the age to four-and-a-half years had been criticised by the childcare sector which had predicted dozens of services would close and hundreds of jobs would be...
Tasmania must absorb cost of up to 1,400 extra kindy kids if schooling changes proceed
ABC News - Lucy Shannon - August 17, 2016Questions are being raised about how the Tasmanian Government will fund its plan to lower the school starting age. The Government wants to reduce the compulsory starting age by six months, pushing the kindergarten starting age down to three-and-a-half years. Education Minister Jeremy...
Childcare sector says hundreds of jobs will go if Tasmania lowers school starting age
ABC News - Laura Beavis - August 16, 2016Tasmania's childcare sector fears hundreds of jobs will be lost if the Government lowers the school starting age from 2021. The Government wants to reduce the compulsory school starting age by six months, which would push the voluntary kindergarten starting age down to three-and-a-half...
G8 shares plummet on full-year result
The Australian - Michael Roddan - August 16, 2016Shares in childcare operator G8 Education (GEM) plunged as much as 29 per cent in intraday trade on Tuesday after the company revealed an unexpectedly weak profit. But a ballooning pile of debt for the company may be a bigger issue than the sharp share price fall, with G8's leverage...
Alleged day care fraudster approved to work with children despite sword attack, terror investigation
ABC News - Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop - August 16, 2016The revelations about Dandachi on Monday night's 7.30 program have sparked questions about how he continued to be authorised to work with children, despite being under close watch by counter-terrorism authorities and becoming involved in a standoff with police at gunpoint, in which he...
Sydney day childcare business linked to widescale fraud of childcare funds for terrorist purposes
News.com.au - Ian Horswill - August 16, 2016CHILDCARE claims totalling more than $27 million of taxpayers' money are suspected to have been sent to Islamic State terrorists. Counter-terrorism police and seven other agencies are investigating if the childcare benefits and rebates are being sent overseas to help ISIS and other terrorist...
Nanny pilot program ignores distance education students: Isolated Children's Parents' Association
ABC News (Rural) - Tyne Logan - August 15, 2016The pilot, designed to subsidise care for families to use a nanny for their child care needs, began in December 2015. But, as a part of the guidelines, nannies cannot supervise someone undertaking home-schooling or distance education programs. It is this aspect of the pilot that has prompted ICPA...
