Child Care News
G8 Education lifts FY profit 70%
The Australian - Michelle Roddan - February 16, 2015Child care centre operator G8 Education says the group is well placed to deal with pending changes to the child care sector proposed by the government's productivity commission, as it posted a strong lift earnings for 2014. G8 lifted its profit for the 12 months to December 31 to $52.7 million...
New Social Services Minister Scott Morrison shows his colours
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - February 15, 2015Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has declared he is not "wedded ideologically" to the government's controversial dole and pension budget measures and says he does not want to be "combative" in his new portfolio, a move that flags a more pragmatic approach to families...
Tony Abbott's families package explained
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - February 15, 2015Why is the government focused on families all of a sudden? The government actually went to the 2013 election with a childcare policy – specifically, to ask the Productivity Commission to inquire into how it could make childcare more "flexible, affordable and accessible". The commission...
Childcare is crucial to the knowledge economy
Sydney Morning Herald - Matt Wade - February 15, 2015Not so long ago childcare hardly rated a mention on the national agenda. But in coming weeks it will take centre stage in federal politics. Tony Abbott says a revamp of the childcare system will be the focus of a "families package" he's banking on to help revive the government's fortunes...
Suncorp, Commonwealth Bank sue over loans linked to Doug Lomas, Gold Coaster who backed childcare operations CFK and Kids Campus
Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - February 15, 2015FORMER childcare, mining-accommodation and cattle entrepreneur Doug Lomas is being chased in relation to $5.8 million in loans from Suncorp and Commonwealth Bank. The two lenders have sued Gold Coast-based Mr Lomas, a backer of former childcare operations Kids Campus and CFK...
Scott Morrison plans series of 'carrots and sticks' welfare tweaks
The Australian - David Uren - February 14, 2015Mr Morrison said the government's childcare package was still being assembled but would be designed to maximise work incentives while ensuring that the benefits were not captured by childcare providers jacking up their prices. "You can't have the situation where people are…
The Abbott government should support parents, not childcare
The Australian - Angela Shanahan - February 14, 2015Institutional childcare and the childcare tax rebate mostly subsidise well-paid women in two-income families. So means-testing the childcare tax rebate makes sense, but so does broadening the availability of cheaper in-home care such as nannies and family daycare. Ultimately, though…
Babies, bosses and big workplace changes
The Age - Ingrid Stitt - February 12, 2015Most families have to be placed on childcare waiting lists while still pregnant, not always resulting in a place by the time they need to return to work. If you are lucky enough to secure childcare you need then get ready for the shock of the cost. It's no wonder many low and middle-income...
Joe Hockey responds to Malcolm Turnbull speculation: 'I'm here long-term'
3AW - Neil Mitchell - February 11, 2015Joe Hockey: Child care is something we're addressing as part of our families package. Neil Mitchell: Are child care cuts on the table. Joe Hockey: Child care needs to be reformulated so that it can actually be delivered on a sustainable basis, but be more flexible and accommodating for needs...
Nearly 100 Sydney kids checked for TB
9News - February 11, 2015Almost 100 children at an inner Sydney child care centre are being screened for pulmonary tuberculosis after a staff member tested positive for the disease. The Surry Hills childcare centre worker is undergoing treatment. "We think the risk of transmission from the case to other people...
Childcare centres wage war with added extras
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 11, 2015CHILDCARE centres are offering cars, extra holidays and bonuses to stop teachers defecting to schools. Daycare centres are struggling to find qualified teachers, as graduates join waiting lists to work in the higher-paying schools sector. One in 20 centres is operating without the required...
Soaring childcare costs eat into family budgets
Sydney Morning Herald - Clancy Yeates - February 11, 2015Petrol is cheap, home loan interest rates are at rock bottom. But there remains one glaring exception to the relief in living costs many consumers are experiencing at the moment: the expense of childcare. Average childcare costs rose more than 5 per cent last year and this is only...
Victorian Government 'disappointed' about lack of certainty over kindergarten funding
ABC News - Alison Savage - February 10, 2015The Victorian Government has called on the Commonwealth to reveal whether it will extend funding for extra hours of kindergarten for Victorian children. Under a National Partnership Agreement signed in 2008, the Commonwealth funded five hours of kindergarten a week for each child, while...
'We shouldn't have put everything in the budget' admits Joe Hockey
7.30 Report - Leigh Sales - February 10, 2015JOE HOCKEY: Well the independent Productivity Commission undertook a review of childcare just last year. We have that report. We've been consulting widely. The new Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is working on that response. It is hugely important that we get childcare right...
Kelly O'Dwyer, Kate Ellis and Amanda Rishworth part of parliamentary baby boom
Sydney Morning Herald - Latika Bourke - February 10, 2015The usual partisan playground politics will be put aside this year, at least for three of Parliament's rising female stars. They have joined forces to help each other juggle the demands of being senior women in their parties as well as first-time mothers. Labor frontbenchers Kate Ellis and Amanda...
