Child Care News
Opinion: High-dose child care is feeding a raft of social and emotional ills
The Sunday Mail - Jane Fynes-Clinton - May 3, 2015Despite child care fast-food style (quick, easy and mass produced) being an accepted and expected part of the weekly rhythm in families of pre-schoolers, the evidence is building that too much, too young, too long is a very bad thing indeed. It can lead to insecurity, anxiety, lousy health and...
Nanny subsidy pilot scheme to start in January 2016 to help parents who can't access mainstream childcare services
Sydney Morning Herald - Kelsey Munro - May 2, 2015For hundreds of thousands of Australian families, the daily wrestle between work commitments and family life is Sisyphean in its dimensions. Childcare is expensive, and hard to get. Even though the federal government spends $7 billion a year on early childhood services, still there are huge...
Canberra childcare growing at the fastest rate in Australia
Canberra Times - Ben Westcott - May 2, 2015The number of children regularly attending childcare in the ACT has risen by 7.3 per cent since 2011 according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. In comparison, childcare attendance rose by only 2.8 per cent in NSW and 3.3 per cent in Victoria, while the..
Morrison confirms stricter rules on childcare subsidies for stay-at-home mums
The Australian - David Crowe - May 1, 2015Stricter rules will be applied to stay-at-home mums who want childcare subsidies as the government confirms a new regime that will target the help at those who work. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said the new "integrity tests" would have to be tougher to ensure the...
Budget 2015: Working parents get lift
The Australian - David Crowe - May 1, 2015Working parents will gain more payments while stay-at-home mothers will face stricter tests on childcare support in this month's budget, as federal cabinet locks in its central features, pitching it to voters as a plan to expand the workforce. Pensioners will get a reprieve from unpopular cuts...
Quality childcare is a good start
The Australian - Frank Oberklaid & Sarah Wise - May 1 2015To boost the nation's productivity, the federal government is trying to encourage more women back into the workforce after having a child. There are clear economic benefits in such a policy, which generally has widespread community support. The accessibility and affordability of childcare is...
A tougher test for parents inevitable
The Australian - David Crowe - May 1, 2015The government's response, to be revealed in the next few days, will be to throw out the old rules in favour of graduated steps in payments. There will be a stairway to heaven rather than a lift that goes straight to the top floor. This means thresholds, tests and caps. Every one of them will...
Bouquets and brickbats: Why nannies are attracting both
Women's Agenda - Georgina Dent - April 30, 2015Why the inconsistency? Why is there no single narrative on whether this deserves bouquets or brickbats? Because, essentially, there are two very important policy objectives at play. One is the quality of early learning and care that is delivered to Australian children. The second is the...
Napping linked to worse sleep in children
Brisbane Times - Jorge Branco - April 30, 2015New research has raised questions about something that's common practice in 80 per cent of Queensland childcare centres. The Sleep in Early Childhood Research group found children exposed to more than an hour of forced napping at centres slept worse at night, even when they started...
Morrison's nanny program risks undercutting quality care
The Conversation - Eva Cox - April 29, 2015However, rather than the government working with existing services, such as family day care or even centre based services, to set up outreach or greater flexibility of use, the government has set up a new service without any quality guarantees or controls. The government focuses on...
Childcare spots in Australia hard to find as 55,000 kids turned away
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - April 29, 2015STRESSED-out working parents are struggling to secure childcare, with new figures showing more than 55,000 Australian kids have been turned away from centres because of a lack of places. As the federal government prepares to release a package of measures to deal with the rising costs...
Nanny funding trial gets mixed reception
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - April 28, 2015A coalition of corporate and women's lobby groups has applauded the Abbott government's plan to trial funding for nannies, but some in the childcare sector have questioned how different the new policy will be from an existing program and raised concerns about nanny qualifications...
Parents of isolated children welcome Federal Government's nanny subsidy proposal
ABC News - Anna Vidot - April 28, 2015Remote parent groups have welcomed a Federal Government pilot program to subsidise nannies. The Isolated Children's Parents Association says it is the kind of scheme it has been calling for for some time, and is keen for remote families to participate in the trial. Social Services Minister...
Minister warns nanny subsidies will depend on Senate passing other savings measures
ABC Radio - Jane Norman - April 28, 2015A trial to extend childcare subsidies to nannies will be contingent on other savings measures passing the Senate, warns Social Services Minister Scott Morrison. The two-year, $250 million pilot program is the first element of the Government's soon-to-be-released childcare package and...
Diane Smith-Gander backs childcare cutback for the rich
Financial Review - Phillip Coorey & Misa Han - April 28, 2015Diane Smith-Gander, chair of ASX-listed Transfield Services and president of Chief Executive Women, told The Australian Financial Review she accepted the current economic reality meant the government had to better target the childcare dollar, but this did not mean support for...
