Child Care News
Federal election 2016: childcare plan will help 'all women'
The Australian - Natasha Bita - June 6, 2016Labor will woo working mums with a plan to set up or expand 1200 centres for after-school care, after gifting up to $79 a week extra in subsidies for each child in daycare from January 1. In an election sugar-hit for families, Bill Shorten pledged yesterday to boost upfront childcare subsidies by 15...
Election 2016. Facing up to the real cost of childcare
Financial Review - Jennifer Hewett - June 5, 2016The commission also considered the extremely limited impact of more financial assistance in encouraging more women with young children to work more hours. According to the head of the commission, Peter Harris, the impact of Australia's relatively generous system of family tax benefits and...
Election 2016: Labor dodges questions on costs as it gazumps Libs on childcare
Financial Review - Phillip Coorey - June 5, 2016Treasurer Scott Morrison, who designed the Coalition's policy when he was social services minister, said not only was Labor's policy unfunded, it had no limits to stop a blow-out in the structural cost of childcare subsidies. The Coalition's plan rolled the benefit and rebate into a single payment and...
Out-of-hours school care: Unregulated operators cash in on parents
The Daily Telegraph - Bruce McDougall - June 4, 2016UNREGULATED businesses offering before and after school care for children are putting kids at risk and "preying on the desperation" of parents unable to find a place in approved and accredited facilities. Working families faced with a critical shortage of places for out of school hours care have since...
Feminist men still uncertain about childcare
Financial Review - Claire Stewart - June 2, 2016"We've still got that 1970s thing of looking after children being the woman's job, so if women want to work, what are they going to do about the children." Rather than framing it as a woman's issue, which by definition marginalises it and makes it less pressing, Cannald says it has to be a...
Federal election 2016: childcare costs a key issue for voters
The Australian - Rick Morton - June 2, 2016Soaring childcare and early learning costs would influence almost a third of Australians to specifically support political candidates who back affordable access ahead of other issues, according to a national poll. The survey of 1000 Australians older than 18, conducted by Galaxy Research for Early...
Federal election 2016: leaders mum on $200-a-day childcare
The Australian - Rick Morton - June 1, 2016Families are paying almost $90 per child on average for each day in childcare and the costs are even higher in city centres, where prices balloon to $200 a head, new data analysis shows. Despite the pressing cost of care - which has forced families like the Dohles to move interstate - both the...
Minimum wage ruling fails to please anybody
Sydney Morning Herald - Noel Towell - May 31,2016No one in Canberra in 2016 will be saying no to a pay-rise, especially if they are on the minimum or award wages. But for Cassandra Duff and her early childhood educator colleagues, there was little to cheer about in the 2.4 per cent rise, with the childcare centre director saying that 2.4 per cent of not...
New app boosts children's learning in a week, researcher says
ABC News - Lexy Hamilton-Smith - May 31, 2016The Emergent Literacy Assessment app (ELAa) is being trialled in schools and childcare centres and is aimed at children aged four to five. It tests students by getting them to recognise and say numbers, letters, sounds and words. Ms Griffith said a week-long trial among 20 students at Coomera's...
Federal election 2016: 30pc of women yet to choose between leaders
The Australian - Phillip Hudson - May 31, 2016The post-budget Newspoll this month revealed that women aged 35-49 years with an income less than $100,000 believed they were hit hardest by the budget. One of the key decisions by Scott Morrison was to delay the government's childcare package by a year. John Cherry, the advocacy...
When smart money is on the stay-at-home dad
The Australian - James Gerrard - May 31, 2016Sydney based Financial Advisor Peter Lambert sees the Saunders situation as becoming more common due to rising childcare costs. "With care costs commonly around the $100 mark per day per child across most capital cities in Australia, it is not uncommon for a family with several children to be...
Autism study shows early intervention helping children in regional areas
ABC News - Damian McIntyre - May 30, 2016The outcomes were similar in a satellite service offered through childcare centres in Devonport, Smithton and King Island. "This is important because it shows that mainstream day care centres in little rural towns that don't have full access to services are able to deliver early intervention for children if...
Preschool shouldn't be an optional extra
Sydney Morning Herald - Greg Whitby - May 30, 2016It is unfathomable that 23 per cent of children cannot access early learning due to the high cost, in light of the Auditor-General's report, which revealed $350 million of the budget was left unspent over four years in NSW. This is particularly troubling for many families in disadvantaged areas of western...
South Australian families to miss out on $90 million worth of extra childcare support, Greens claim
The Courier Mail - Peter Jean - May 27, 2016SOUTH Australian families will miss out on almost $90 million in extra childcare support because of a delay in reforms designed to make care more affordable. The Federal Government is delaying the introduction of a new childcare support system until mid-2018, after failing to win Senate...
Standards and safety audit reveals best and worst rated child care and after-school care centres
The Advertiser - Miles Kemp - May 27, 2016SCORES of childcare and after-school care centres are failing to meet the standards set by authorities, including "children's health and safety". Almost two-thirds of South Australia's centres have so far been reviewed and 82 have been shown to fail in four or more of the seven standards, with 11...
