Child Care News
Federal election 2016: Working poor 'pay Labor rich rebates'
The Australian - Natasha Bita - June 10, 2016Wealthy families would pocket up to $176 million more in daycare rebates at the expense of the working poor under Labor's childcare policy, the Coalition claims. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham admitted yesterday that high-earning families would lose money despite the...
Why is funding childcare so hard to prioritise?
Daily Life - Jenna Price - June 9, 2016But hold on! We do need to save money if we want to fund childcare. Of all the strange peculiarities of policy making, this might be the very strangest. That funding some policies allows you to spend without a care in the world. And funding other policies requires you to pinch money from Paula to pay...
Demand for childcare surges despite cost
The West Australian - Phoebe Wearne - June 9, 2016WA needs 86 new childcare centres or the average centre needs to accommodate three more children to cope with demand, data analysis shows. As the major parties trade blows on child care before the election, research by Perth workforce diversity specialist Conrad Liveris suggests an...
Family benefits cut: 80% of single mothers fear running out of food
The Guardian - Lenore Taylor - June 9, 2016More than 80% of single mothers believe they will run out of food or struggle to pay for school books, uniforms or utility bills if the Coalition succeeds in passing the cuts to family benefits it says are necessary to pay for its new childcare plan, according to a survey. The government has...
Election 2016: Greens back Coalition on need to curb childcare blowout
Financial Review - Phillip Coorey - June 9, 2016The Australian Greens will today unveil a childcare policy similar to that of the Coalition, suggesting that if Labor wins the election it will have to overhaul its policy if it were to ever pass the Senate. Days after Labor promised an extra $3 billion to augment the existing system of a means...
Election 2016: Labor exaggerating benefits of childcare package, Federal Government says
ABC News - Jane Norman - June 9, 2016But the Coalition has crunched the numbers and, according to its analysis, all of the families would actually be better off under the Coalition's policy by around $2,000 a year. It has also found Labor's plan will deliver $176 million more to higher income families than the Coalition's plan, raising...
Election 2016: Childcare should be better for taxpayer and disadvantaged kids
Financial Review - Jim Minifie - June 9, 2016Overall, today's childcare funding model moves a lot of money, but may not be the lowest-cost way to help women get back into the workforce or to support vulnerable kids to reach their potential. What of the changes proposed in this election campaign? Both main parties are proposing to lift...
New law forcing childcare workers to report suspected abuse step closer
Townsville Bulletin - June 9, 2016A NEW law forcing childcare workers to report suspected abuse is a step closer in Queensland. A parliamentary committee has recommended "Mason's Law" be passed to extend mandatory reporting obligations to those in the early childhood education sector from July 1...
Comment: Election promises highlight need for child care and early learning reform
SBS News - Ros Cornish - June 7, 2016Both parties should not lose sight of the long-term reform task. We have a system of child care subsidies that is not adequately meeting the needs of families, services or children. This was underscored by the 'Productivity Commission's Inquiry into Child Care and Early Learning' which was...
Child care choice: Will voters want a sugar hit or a more lasting solution?
The Drum - Trisha Jha - June 7, 2016Labor will win political points for the earlier start date for its extra funding for child care, but unlike the Government's plan, it amounts to a sugar hit for family budgets without the benefits of structural change or a proper solution to the problem of skyrocketing fees. Labor's long-awaited response to the...
Time to curb childcare costs
Financial Review - June 6, 2016Australia's childcare system subsidies, like many government transfers, are middle-class welfare dressed up as fairness - expensive vote-buying propositions, fuelled by an upwardly-mobile sense of entitlement and blowing up childcare costs. So what does Labor want to do about it? Pump more in...
Federal election 2016: Fears childcare providers will 'jack up' fees under Labor
Financial Review - June 6, 2016"The last time the Labor Party did this, which they did when they were in government, we saw a 12 per cent spike in childcare fees," he told Sky on Monday. "Childcare providers just saw the Labor Party coming, jacked up their prices, put it in their pocket, leaving Australian families no better off."...
Federal election 2016: Childcare policy latest front in battle for families
Financial Review - Joanna Mather - June 6, 2016Trisha Jha, a policy analyst with the Centre for Independent Studies, agreed childcare centres were likely to absorb any extra money flowing into the system without necessarily raising the quality of service provision. While Labor had promised that the Australian Competition and Consumer...
Labor's childcare plan the wrong policy at right time
The New Daily - Rob Burgess - June 6, 2016The finer details of the two policies have been spelled out elsewhere, but the short version is that the Coalition has attempted to make the spiralling cost of childcare more sustainable and Labor hasn't. And 'spiralling' really is the word, because childcare fees have been caught in a positive feedback loop...
Childcare provider says working families with newborns 'better off under Coalition policy'
The Guardian - Gabrielle Chan - June 6, 2016Families currently using childcare are probably better off under the Labor policy, while families with children just born are better off, at this stage, under the Coalition, according to Australia's largest childcare provider Goodstart Early Learning. John Cherry of Goodstart - a not-for-profit...
