Child Care News
Australian company collapses during GFC have resulted in very few criminal convictions
The Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - March 21, 2016The global financial crisis badly bled Australian investors in some big-name but overstretched companies. Then-ASIC chairman Tony D'Aloisio told a joint Parliamentary Committee in 2009 that major corporate insolvencies then – including ABC, finance outfit Allco, investment bank Babcock and Brown...
Is grandparenting becoming a trap for older women?
Daily Life - Elana Benjamin - March 21, 2016A 2015 study, Grandparent Childcare and Labour Market Participation in Australia, commissioned by National Seniors Australia, found there is a tipping point after which providing care becomes less enjoyable: grandparents who provide 13 or more hours of care a week are less likely to enjoy caring for...
Childcare hours limit choices for parents
The West Australian - Shannon Hampton - March 21, 2016Less than one per cent of WA childcare centres operate outside standard business hours, making it almost impossible for some working parents to find care for their children. Productivity Commission data published last month revealed 0.3 per cent of WA childcare centres operated after 6.30pm...
Prime Minister's broken promise means childcare cost will double for more than 100,000 families
The Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - March 20, 2016CHILDCARE costs are set to double for more than 100,000 families next year as a result of a decision to put big promises to deliver cheaper fees on the backburner. Parents promised childcare relief have been dudded again, with the Turnbull government now conceding Parliament will not pass...
Childcare costs to skyrocket
Ten News - March 20, 2016The cost of childcare is about to double for thousands of parents as squabbling in the Senate delays financial relief...
Minister backs away from daycare pool ban
The West Australian - Angela Pownall - March 19, 2016Community Services Minister Tony Simpson has backed away from a vow to ban swimming pools at family daycare centres after a two-year-old boy's death. Lachlan was found unconscious in the backyard pool of a Carramar family daycare centre in November and died two days later...
'He would come home crying everyday': Culture shock and isolation in early education
Canberra Times - Clare Sibthorpe - March 19, 2016The struggle he faced through culture shock, isolation and lack of support prompted Mrs Levy to advocate for "every child's right" to early childhood education. This issue, along with teaching multiculturalism to young children and the funding shortage to day care centres, will be debated in a public seminar...
Queensland childcare centres fail to adopt anti-vaccination laws
ABC News - Jon Coghill - March 18, 2016Queensland childcare centres are not taking advantage of a new law which allows them to refuse to enrol non-immunised children. The State Government gave childcare providers the right to exclude children who aren't fully vaccinated as part of a strategy to increase immunisation levels...
FactCheck: has there been a massive increase in child care costs under the Coalition government?
The Conversation - Robert Breunig & Susan Krieg - March 18, 2016Labor's shadow minister for early education, Kate Ellis, said there's been a "massive increase" in child care costs since the 2013 election of the Coalition government. Is it fair to link rising child care costs with the election of the Coalition government in 2013? When asked for data to support her assertion...
Childcare 'squatters' keep waiting lists full
The West Australian - Angela Pownall - March 18, 2016Rachelle Tucker, executive director of the Australian Childcare Alliance WA, said it was a problem reported by many WA childcare services. "Unreliable waiting lists result in unnecessary administration costs because services could contact up to 50 families before they find a family...
Crackdown uncovers more breaches of childcare rules
The West Australian - Angela Pownall - March 17, 2016A crackdown on compliance in WA's growing childcare sector has seen an increase in services being caught breaking the law and breaching regulations this year. Inspectors have uncovered 449 offences and breaches in 38 per cent of 1171 spot checks of childcare services carried out over...
Childcare sales heat up on tight yields
Financial Review - Su-Lin Tan - March 16, 2016Fierce competition for childcare properties has compressed yields further in the relatively new asset class. Colliers International's new childcare division handled the sale of a two-storey purpose-built childcare centre at 63 Lynwood Avenue in Dee Why on Sydney's northern beaches for $6 million...
Labor Unveils Social Equality Policy
Huffington Post - Josh Butler - March 16, 2016In early childhood policy, the report flags the possibility of setting up child and maternal health services in "alternative settings" like shopping centres or schools to promote ease of access for families, as well as committing to improving perinatal mental health services, affordable child care for every child...
Roundtable to address concerns about Federal Government child care changes
ABC News - Julie Doyle - March 16, 2016Child care providers will convene a roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra this morning in a bid to convince the Federal Government to change its plans for the sector. The Federal Government wants to overhaul child care rebates paid to more than 1 million families who use the system. As part...
WA languishes close to foot of childcare league
The West Australian - Angela Pownall and Shannon Hampton - March 16, 2016Only one in five children goes to a childcare service in WA, giving the State one of the lowest participation rates in the country. The statistic has raised fears that many WA children are missing out on the social, developmental and educational benefits of early childhood care. In its Report on...
