Child Care News
Tony Burke's adventures in the Middle Kingdom
The Australian - Ben Butler & Christine Lacy - August 6, 2015Childcare in China is exciting. Labor frontbencher Tony Burke, who's visited the People's Republic twice in the past 10 months to visit kiddie care facilities, believes it's "a significant growth area for Australian investment in China". So significant that we can’t find a word he’s spoken of the...
Coveted childcare spots could soon become even harder to find
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - August 5, 2015PRIZED childcare spots for babies under one will become even harder to secure if changes to parental leave entitlements force mums back to work earlier, a lobby group has warned. The federal government's bid to stop so-called double-dipping - a term coined to describe new mums...
All volunteer work should qualify parents for childcare payments, providers say
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - August 4, 2015Volunteering for activities such as Meals on Wheels and at school tuck shops should count as "work" that will qualify parents for childcare payments, major childcare providers say. Australia's largest childcare provider, Goodstart Early Learning, along with the Australian Childcare Alliance and...
It's time to get serious about real economic reforms
The Australian - Judith Sloan - August 4, 2015The trouble is the Coalition is planning to use these savings on FTBs to splurge on childcare assistance in a completely unaffordable and ineffective way. In fact, families on very high incomes stand to gain $2500 a year per child in the new childcare package, something that looks like a...
Anchorage courts Affinity Education with alternative offer
Financial Review - Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald & Jake Mitchell - August 4, 2015Private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners is believed to be the second party stalking childcare operator Affinity Education Group, having submitted a proposal aimed at addressing the company's funding hole. Takeover target Affinity told its shareholders not to accept an improved 80¢ a share...
Tony Abbott's childcare changes will 'reduce access and add complexity'
Sydney Morning Herald - Matt Wade - August 3, 2015The childcare package at the heart of the Abbott government's May budget will diminish access to childcare services, reduce flexibility and introduce baffling complexity, experts have warned. A submission to a government-sponsored industry consultation by Professor Deborah Brennan and...
G8 Education lobs $185m cash takeover offer for Affinity Education
Financial Review - Jessica Gardner - August 3, 2015Childcare operator G8 Education has sweetened its takeover bid for smaller rival Affinity Education, increasing its price to 80¢ a share and allowing investors to take up the offer in cash or shares. The $1.2 billion company put out a supplementary bidder statement on Monday morning, which...
G8 Education shores up Affinity bid
The Australian - Michael Roddan - August 3, 2015Child care operator G8 Education has reinforced its takeover bid for rival firm Affinity Education, securing new debt with the Bank of Western Australia to help pay down Affinity's debts in the case of a successful acquisition. G8 Education today bolstered its approach for its proposed takeover...
Crossbenchers lobbied to sink Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill
The Australian - Rebecca Urban - August 1, 2015A coalition of unions, academics, and family and women's groups is lobbying crossbench senators in a bid to have the Abbott government's legislation to scale back paid parental leave entitlements voted down. The push against the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill, which is opposed by Labor and...
Mystery Affinity Education buyers add intrigue to G8 Education takeover bid
Sydney Morning Herald - Carrie LaFrenz - July 31, 2015Two investors with past connections to G8 Education chair Jenny Hutson have been buying shares in the childcare operator's takeover target Affinity Education. Brisbane-based Taxonomy and Tasmanian-based West Bridge Holdings have together bought about $10 million worth of Affinity...
Childcare subsidies not essential for getting women back to work
Financial Review - Jennifer Hewett - July 29, 2015Joe Hockey often cites Canada's high level of female participation in the workforce as the model for Australia to emulate. If only, he says, Australia could equal that it would add $25 billion to the country's annual gross domestic product. The Treasurer uses this figure as the economic...
Nanny subsidy trial: cost to providers means program 'set up to fail'
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - July 27, 2015But the Australian Nanny Association says that the cost to providers who participate in the trial will "outweigh the funding allocated to services wanting to tender". Under the draft guidelines, nanny services will receive two types of payments: a family subsidy direct from the government, and...
Welcome News for Australian Families: Visa Change will Offer Working Families Flexible Childcare
Newsmaker - July 27, 2015As of 21 July 2015, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has updated the current 6 month work restriction on a Working Holiday Maker visa (subclasses 417 and 462) to allow Au Pairs to remain with the same family for the entirety of their 12 month visa. This ruling recognises...
Time to look at super, negative gearing, GST, bracket creep: KPMG
Sydney Morning Herald - Nassim Khadem - July 27, 2015To get more women back to work, it suggests employer funded top-up child care costs should be treated as exempt benefits. It also recommends moving move away from a family or joint income test for childcare benefits, which has led to high marginal tax rates for primary carers seeking...
Labor looks to longer preschool hours
SBS News - July 25, 2015Preschoolers might find themselves spending longer at school under a federal Labor government. But the party's national conference has watered down a motion from NSW member Rose Jackson, who wanted the access to preschool doubled from 15 hours a week to 30 hours. Instead, the...
