Child Care News

Bright colours reported to be a cause of stress in young children
Courier Mail - Brittany Vonow - May 25, 2015

US-based child trauma specialist Dr Kristie Brandt, keynote speaker at the Early Education and Care conference, said primary colours distracted children and made it hard for them to regulate behaviour. The Parent-Infant and Child Institute director said that although it might seem...

Who's advocating for the young as we hurtle through the greatest social change in recent history?
The Sunday Telegraph - Angela Mollard - May 24, 2015

But what about children - where do they feature in this brave new blueprint for the future? What's best for them? Who's advocating for the youngest, the voiceless as we hurtle through the greatest social change in recent history, namely how children are raised? Women are the nation's....

Senate roadblock threatens to slice $7bn from budget savings
The Australian - Rosie Lewis and Joe Kelly - May 22, 2015

The $3.5bn childcare package, removal of "double-dipping" for paid parental leave and one-month wait for the dole for young people would not pass the upper house in their current form, according to The Australian's analysis. It comes as the pressure on the budget intensifies, with Health...

Middle-class families to lose $88 a week from daycare subsidies
The Australian - Natasha Bita - May 22, 2015

Middle-class families will lose up to $88 a week in daycare subsidies unless both parents work or study, an analysis of the Abbott government's childcare reforms shows. A single-income family earning $65,000 a year, with one child in care for two days a week, stands to lose $4603 a year...

Daycare workers underpaid by $438K
The Australian - Michael Owen - May 22, 2015

Almost 600 childcare workers across the country have been underpaid more than $438,000, it can be revealed. The results of a special operation run by the Fair Work Ombudsman, provided to The Australian, show that 98 employers short-changed 584 employees more than $438,600...

Vaccine-free childcare 'potentially catastrophic', says industry group
The Guardian - Melissa Davey - May 21, 2015

Moves by parents to open "vaccine-free" and "unvaccinated-friendly" day care centres in response to the federal government's "no jab, no pay" policy have been described as "potentially catastrophic" by Early Childhood Australia, the peak advocacy body for early childcare. In April...

Childcare group G8 distances itself from ABC Learning Centres' failed strategy
The Courier Mail - Jenny Borges - May 21, 2015

QUEENSLAND childcare operator G8 Education has assured shareholders its insatiable appetite for acquisition will not see it crash and burn like the failed ABC Learning Centres. The country's largest listed childcare company says it is not following in the footsteps of Eddy Grove's ABC, which left...

Inner west childcare worker charged with indecent assault of toddler
Sydney Morning Herald - May 21, 2015

A childcare worker has been charged with indecently assaulting a two-year-old girl at a childcare centre in Sydney's inner-west. Police were told another staff member saw the 24 year-old man indecently assaulting the girl as she slept at the centre on May 13. Detectives from the Child...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's childcare boost finds unlikely ally in 'Destroy the Joint' critic Jane Caro
News.com.au - Jo Hilderbrand - May 21, 2015

IN one of the most unlikely political endorsements in recent memory, Prime Minister Tony Abbott's massive cash injection into childcare and early education has won the support of one of his staunchest critics, left-wing social commentator Jane Caro. The unexpected tick for the PM...

Bernard Keane says government's childcare funding plan is a step in the right direction
ABC Brisbane - Gabrielle Burke - 21 May 2015

Is the government's childcare funding plan a step in the right direction? Bernard Keane, Canberra correspondent for Crikey.com.au, spoke with Steve Austin about the government's federal budget measures...

Parramatta mums deliver verdict on budget childcare changes
ABC News - Susan McDonald - May 21, 2015

A week on from the federal budget, families are still digesting the biggest shake-up of childcare in years as they contemplate how to make ends meet. Reporter Susan McDonald spoke to mothers in the Parramatta suburb of Dundas. Zoe Waters-Hooson takes a two-year-old Ophelia along on...

Finding childcare a struggle for three in 10 parents
Financial Review - Lucille Keen - May 21, 2015

Three in 10 parents find it difficult to find care for children at short notice and about the same amount struggle financially to cover the cost of childcare, Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies finds. AIFS senior research fellow Jennifer Baxter said the research showed families using...

Stay-at-home parents creching the daycare party
The Australian - Natasha Bita - May 21, 2015

Working families are struggling to find childcare, as new research reveals a third of stay-at-home parents send their kids to daycare. The Australian Institute of Family Studies has found that only two-thirds of parents use daycare for work-related reasons. One in 10 families uses taxpayer-subsidised...

Baby dilemma as paid parental leave scheme curbed
Financial Review - Verona Burgess - May 20, 2015

In the space of one week, having access to both the government's paid parental leave scheme and your employer's scheme turned from being a hard-won right to a fraud; not a fraud; a rort; and finally not a rort but still double-dipping. But public servants are double-dipping doubly by having...

Labor likely to restore paid parental leave
Financial Review - Phillip Coorey and Joanna Mather - May 20, 2015

The Labor opposition would likely restore full paid parental leave in government if the Coalition gets a $1 billion cut to the scheme through the Senate. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said voters had been "ambushed" by a measure that was unfair, poorly thought through and for which savings would...