Child Care News
Childcare report points to small gains
The Australian - Adam Creighton - February 21, 2015IT’S popular to talk about "market failure" - how unfettered competition can end up hurting consumers. The Productivity Commission's much anticipated report into childcare, released yesterday, is a reminder how "government failure" is often far more damaging. No other area...
100,000 mums 'to lose care childcare subsidy'
The Australian - Rick Moreton and Joe Kelly - February 21, 2015MORE than 100,000 working mothers would be denied childcare support if a key recommendation of the Productivity Commission is accepted by the federal government, according to an analysis of its modelling. Family advocacy group The Parenthood analysed data provided by the commission...
Savings vital to extra cash for families, Labor told
The Australian - Jared Owens - February 21, 2015INCREASES to government spending on childcare must be offset with new budget savings, Scott Morrison warned Labor, as business groups cautioned against raising taxes to fund new social policies. Launching his period of consultation, the Social Services Minister has stressed that the…
Middle class welfare must end
Financial Review - February 21, 2015But even the PC still feels it necessary to give 20 per cent of an benchmarked childcare cost to families making over $250,000. Why? These are upper middle-class people who in our Asian competitors would hardly consider paying for their childcare to be a responsibility of government. But everybody, it seems, has to get something...
Childcare report gets thumbs down from sector
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - February 21, 2015Childcare experts and parents have been left scratching their heads at the Productivity Commission's long-awaited blueprint for childcare reform, arguing its proposed new funding system is too difficult to understand and that many families would be worse off under the plan. One…
Surge in childcare demand bolsters property plays
Financial Review - Nick Lenaghan - February 21, 2015The push to reform Australia's childcare system and get more women into the workforce will add momentum to investor interest in the sector, industry figures say. The Productivity Commission's final report recommends reforms that will hit the rich but give support for lower and…
The most needy kids missing vital early learning: report
SBS News - Jason Thomas - February 20, 2015Vulnerable children and those with disabilities benefit most from early childhood education, but are often the ones missing out. Getting to preschool is harder for children who do not use English at home, children who are vulnerable to abuse or neglect or those who have disabilities…
SA childcare centres fail mattress audit
7News - February 20, 2015Children at more than a dozen Adelaide childcare centres were placed at greater risk of sudden death by sleeping on cot mattresses that were too soft, researchers say. The University of Adelaide researchers tested the softness of mattresses at 28 centres across metropolitan Adelaide…
Parents need to get real about childcare subsidies
Financial Review - Jennifer Hewitt - February 20, 2015The changes to childcare proposed by the Productivity Commission attempt to put some realistic financial constraints onto unrealistic community expectations. These expectations are that increased taxpayer support can substantially reduce the high cost of quality childcare for families while...
PC recommends maximum rebate of 30pc of childcare fees for high-income earning families
Financial Review - Jennifer Hewitt and Joanna Mather - February 20, 2015The federal government is attempting to pressure the Opposition into supporting a more generous childcare package than the one recommended by the Productivity Commission - but only in exchange for Labor agreeing to budget savings elsewhere. The commission's long-awaited final...
Child care: Productivity Commission recommends single means-tested subsidy paid directly to provide
ABC News - Chris Uhlmann and Emma Griffiths - February 20, 2015Social Services Minister Scott Morrison says his aim in redesigning the childcare system is to help make it easier for women to return to the workforce, and is open to broadening subsidised services to include nannies. Releasing the Productivity Commission's final report into Childcare and...
Nannies and a single payment recommended by childcare report
The Age - Judith Ireland - February 20, 2015The Abbott government should extend federal funding to nannies and prioritise childcare support to lower and middle income families with a single, means-tested payment, a major review has found. But Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has cautioned that while the government is...
Low-paid win from childcare overhaul
The Australian - Stefanie Balogh - February 20, 2015A SINGLE means-tested subsidy to help parents meet the costs of childcare, including the use of accredited nannies, would boost workforce participation and target more taxpayer-funded assistance to low and middle-income families. The findings of the long awaited Childcare and...
Nannies covered under Productivity Commission proposal
Financial Review - Lucille Keen - February 20, 2015Nannies are no longer for the rich and famous. Most work now for average Australian families, many of whom do shift work and don't fit into the regular childcare system. Melbourne nanny Tracey McDermott said Australia was "a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week society" and...
Australian Childcare Projects plans to open 100 new centres
The Australian - Greg Brown - February 19, 2015CRAIG Napier, chief executive of childcare developer and operator Australian Childcare Projects, says the group will aim to open 100 centres over the next five years, taking advantage of a lack of childcare services in many parts of the country. "While there is continuing demand for mums...
