Child Care News
Childcare deal under threat as Labor asks for more information
NEWS.com.au - Lauren Wilson - April 17, 2015A BIPARTISAN deal on childcare reform is under threat, with Labor warning it is ready to abandon negotiations on the families' package unless the Federal Government provides hard numbers on how families could be impacted. In the first sign of an impasse between the two major parties...
Single childcare payment on the cards
NEWS.com.au - Rashida Yosufzai - April 16, 2015PARENTS could receive a single childcare payment instead of two as part of the federal government's forthcoming families package. SOCIAL Services Minister Scott Morrison says the idea of rolling the childcare benefit for lower-income families and the non-means tested rebate into...
Address to Early Childhood Australia Forum
DSS - Scott Morrison - April 16, 2015Now on flexibility, we created flexibility in the system, there has been much talk about the issue of nannies and we're taking a very incremental and modest approach to this the details of which will be released at a later time but the whole point I think here is not that nannies become an...
Childcare providers to miss out on funds boost
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - April 15, 2015PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has revealed the budget savings won by abandoning his signature paid parental leave scheme will fund a small business tax cut, leaving childcare providers scratching their heads. In February this year, when Mr Abbott's leadership was under pressure, he said...
Part-time working mums held back by childcare bills, despite wanting to work more
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - April 15, 2015THE soaring cost of childcare in Australia has become the single biggest factor in whether mums and dads working part time decide to increase their hours at work. As Social Services Minister Scott Morrison prepares to finalise the federal government’s long awaited families' package...
PM Tony Abbott calms fears of deteriorating budget
Financial Review - Jonathan Barrett & Phillip Coorey - April 14, 2015Prime Minister Tony Abbott will seek to calm fears of a worsening budget situation on Wednesday by promising declining deficits and to limit the size of the centrepiece childcare package until savings can be found to expand it. In a pre-budget speech to a business lunch in Sydney, Mr Abbott...
Training organisations failing security guards and childcare workers, says union
Canberra Times - Kirsten Lawson - April 14, 2015Trainers are failing people in security and childcare, signing off on qualifications for people with inadequate skills or little chance or getting a job, the United Voice union says. The union gave evidence to an ACT Assembly inquiry into vocational education last week, where it said that...
Tony Abbott's main chance: Childcare
Daily Telegraph - David O'Byrne - April 14, 2015Why is childcare the game changer? Because childcare matters for everyone: Children, families, women returning to the workforce and those managing businesses in a volatile economy and our society as a whole because children are our future. It matters because of the multiple benefits...
Childcare makes G8 a solid option for income investors
The Australian - Darren Katz - April 14, 2015Childcare centre operator, G8 Education, has been a stellar performer over the past 3 years. This year, however, some of the gloss has come off the share price. But the stock price fall has pushed up the yield towards 7 per cent - a solid option now for income investors. G8 has a simple...
Abbott government vaccination plan won't work: expert
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - April 13, 2015The Abbott government's tough new stance on immunisation will only increase vaccination rates by an "absolute maximum of one per cent", a Sydney immunisation expert says. University of Sydney associate professor Julie Leask said the federal government's move to prevent parents who don't...
Childcare spending tied to bottom-line constraints
The Australian - David Crowe - April 13, 2015New spending on childcare will be rationed in the federal budget next month to ensure it does not weaken the bottom line as the Abbott government puts a priority on its core promise to repair the nation’s finances. In a key constraint on the new policy, cabinet ministers are insisting the...
Support for government push to withdraw welfare payments from anti vaccination parents
Sydney Morning Herald - Stephanie Peatling - April 13, 2015Childcare and medical organisations have welcomed the federal government's decision to strip parents who are conscientious objectors to childhood vaccination of family tax and childcare payments. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Sunday parents would no longer receive...
Day care tops $170: Private schools cost less than early childcare fees
The Daily Telegraph - Lisa Mayoh - April 12, 2015CHILDCARE fees can now cost more than Sydney's elite private schools, with full-time working parents forking out more than $35,000 a year after government rebates to have their kids in daycare. The state's 24 Only About Children childcare centres this week informed parents of fee...
Abbott government withdraws childcare payments for anti-vaccination parents
Sydney Morning Herald - Stephanie Peatling - April 12, 2015Parents who are "conscientious objectors" to childhood vaccination will have their childcare and family tax payments stopped from 1 January next year as the federal government attempts to crack down on the anti-vaccination movement. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Sunday...
Families who work or study will get the budget money, says Scott Morrison
Financial Review - Fleur Anderson - April 10, 2015The revamped childcare package at the centre of next month's budget will roll multiple taxpayer-funded payments into a single mainstream subsidy only available to parents who work, study or are looking for work. It will bypass parents' bank accounts and be paid directly to childcare centres...
