Child Care News
Childcare properties find growing favour with investors
Sydney Morning Herald - Carolyn Cummins - May 13, 2016The battle for childcare is being fought on many fronts, one of which is at the property level, with investors jumping into the sector that they have identified as one to provide strong growth in the coming years. While it's been a bumpy road for some of the past listed businesses, which was more...
Why neither party should ignore gender in this election
The Conversation - Siobhan Austen, Rhonda Sharp and Therese Jefferson - May 13, 2016The changes in Paid Parental Leave (PPL), included in the 2014 budget and retained in the current "economic plan", will force women to choose either government or employer-funded PPL with adverse social and economic impacts. The amount of paid leave available for many mothers to spend...
Childcare peak body calls for help for families in election
Brisbane Times - Tony More - May 12, 2016Australia's peak childcare agency is calling on the federal government to make an urgent election promise to meet rising childcare costs. Families have shouldered seven to 10 per cent increases in childcare costs for almost five years, but childcare subsidies to help them have been frozen since...
Childcare staff exempt from 'no jab, no play' vaccination laws
The Age - Allison Worrall - May 12, 2016Childcare workers and kindergarten teachers are not required to be vaccinated in Victoria, a parliamentary committee hearing has heard. The Department of Education and Training has confirmed staff at early childhood centres are not included in recent legislation that requires children to be....
Federal Labor MP Kate Ellis wants SA Government to consider tougher vaccination rules for childcare centres
The Advertiser - Lauren Nova - May 11, 2016SOUTH Australia is risking the health of children and falling behind other states by allowing unvaccinated kids to attend childcare and must "urgently strengthen" its laws, according to a senior federal Labor MP. Labor's child development spokeswoman Kate Ellis has written a strongly worded letter...
Outback childcare service braces for funding changes
ABC Rural - Aimee Volkofsky - May 10, 2016Parents on remote properties say they fear for their children's development if the Outback Mobile Resource Unit, known as the 'toy library' loses funding. The library is subsidised by the Federal Government, to deliver child care in remote and isolated areas, where there are no other services...
G8 Education hires former Super Retail Group exec Gary Carroll as new chief financial officer
Gold Coast Bulletin - Jenny Rogers - May 10, 2016GOLD Coast childcare operator G8 Education has appointed a former Super Retail Group executive as its new finance chief. Gary Carroll will replace G8's former long-time chief financial officer and company secretary Chris Sacre. G8 managing director Chris Scott said: "Gary joins us from Super Retail...
Mothers forced out of the workplace and into self-employment
Ten News - May 9, 2016The Mothers in Company research found a number of mothers are forced into self-employment due to the high cost of childcare and lack of availability. "And employers who are not prepared to recognise the contribution that part-time workers and flexible hours can make to business,"...
Childcare centres leased to G8 Education for sale could fetch $30m
Financial Review - Su-Lin Tan - May 9, 2016A private investor has offered for sale four childcare properties leased to listed education group, G8 Education in Queensland and South Australia. The portfolio, which also includes a retail shopping village, is expected to fetch close to $30 million as demand for childcare assets continues to grow...
Opinion: PM Malcolm Turnbull no wiseguy taking on mummy mafia
The Courier-Mail - Renee Viellaris - May 9, 2016MALCOLM Turnbull has made a grand mistake - he has taken on the mummy mafia. Fulltime working mums, part-time working mums and stay at home mums are mad, and they are using social media (mum-to-mum Facebook), grassroots campaigning (whingeing at school pick ups) and door knocking...
The best Mother's Day gift? Paid parental leave
ABC News - Elizabeth Hill - May 8, 2016Childcare remains a key issue for women's participation in paid work. Australian women with young children have much lower rates of workforce participation than women in comparable OECD economies. Over the past 15 years, childcare has been a difficult area of policy for successive...
Coalition can't throw out the baby with the bath water again on family policies
Sunday Herald Sun - Samantha Maiden - May 8, 2016But the Coalition's record on policies for families is no laughing matter. After going to the last election promising a Rolls Royce paid parental leave scheme, Tony Abbott failed to deliver mums a Suzuki Alto. Which, coincidentally is worth $11,000, the same amount that some mums will lose...
Calls for increased participation of three-year-olds in early learning
ABC Radio - Cathy Van Extel - May 6, 2016With Australia lagging Western nations in early childhood education, a new national campaign is calling for higher rates of participation of three-year-olds in pre-school.Australia currently falls in the bottom third of countries ranked by the OECD for pre-school attendance of three-year-olds...
One in five Australian kids disadvantaged when start school, report finds
Brisbane Times - Amy Mitchell-Whittington - May 6, 2016Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to participation in early-learning programs for children, disadvantaging kids before they start school, a report has found. The State of Early Learning in Australia Report 2016, launched by former Governor-General Dame...
Lack of early learning putting children at a disadvantage when starting school, report finds
The Courier Mail - Rhian Deutrom - May 6, 2016AUSTRALIA is among the world's worst for enrolment levels of children younger than three in early-learning programs, affecting their success when they start school. The State of Early Learning in Australia Report 2016 will be launched in Brisbane today by Dame Quentin Bryce. It shows 20 per cent...
