Child Care News
Union wants 70pc pay rise for childcare workforce
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 9, 2015THE childcare union is demanding pay rises of up to 70 per cent for 150,000 workers, comparing their skills to aircraft maintenance engineers, electrical contractors and CSIRO scientists. The United Voice union, in its 2015-16 budget submission, wants public funding for childcare doubled...
Australian Nanny Association confident in-home carers will get rebate
Canberra Times - Matthew Raggatt - February 8, 2015Advocates for the nation's nannies have expressed increased confidence in-home care will be included in the upcoming childcare package, opening up avenues for the thousands of black-market nannies. Australian Nanny Association president Danielle Robertson said she was confident the…
Quality of life the key as family embraces sixth au pair
Canberra Times - Matthew Raggatt - February 8, 2015Jeska Goldie and her husband Lawrence have just welcomed their fifth German au pair into their home - and they wished they had thought of the idea sooner. It's saved the Palmerston family money and helped Ms Goldie return to full-time work, but the senior public servant said the…
Hornsby Council to close childcare centre at Asquith
Sydney Morning Herald - Rachel Browne - February 8, 2015The planned sale of one of a Sydney council's largest childcare centres has sparked fears other local authorities will do the same. At a time when the federal government has put the critical demand for childcare places on the agenda, a Sydney council has opted to sell off one of its…
Childcare - the big problem of little people
Sydney Morning Herald - Rachel Browne - February 7, 2015Tony Abbott says childcare is a priority and he wants to listen to what the sector has to say about the myriad problems: high fees, low availability, staff turnover, costly quality reforms, unwieldy rebate scheme which has been blamed for driving up prices. Experts tell Abbott how they think...
Childcare is not a "women's issue"
The Age - Amanda Dunn - February 7, 2015Childcare is not a "women's issue", it is everyone's issue. It needs to include people beyond those directly affected by it and, to do that, the broader benefits of the option of quality childcare need to be stressed: it's better for our economy, better for families, better for society. To really reform...
Morgan Stanley property unit buys Australian Childcare Projects
The Australian - Maggie Lu YueYang - February 6, 2015MORGAN Stanley’s real estate arm has bought Brisbane-based developer and operator Australian Childcare Projects Ltd (ACP), tapping into the sector through an early-stage investment. ACP, newly incorporated in 2013, describes itself as a "leading incubator" of childcare development...
Peak childhood body calls for childcare levy to fund reform
Sydney Morning Herald - Judith Ireland - February 6, 2015The nation's peak childhood body is calling on the Abbott government and big business to back a levy on the nation's top companies to fund childcare reform, arguing it will boost GDP by billions of dollars. With concerns in the childcare sector that without a levy, the government's new childcare plan...
Refund rip-offs in childcare centres: Parents slugged just to reserve spots
Daily Telegraph - Alicia Wood - February 6, 2015PARENTS are being slugged up to $1500 to reserve preschool and childcare spots, and not getting refunds if their child misses out on a place. Frustrated parents have complained to the Department of Fair Trading about childcare centres that did not refund a $400 reservation fee when the centre...
The childcare dilemma for working parents
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 6, 2015Taxpayers are funding two-thirds of the cost of childcare through a convoluted system of subsidies that increase automatically every time childcare centres raise their fees. This financial year they will spend $7 billion on subsidising childcare fees - 36 per cent more than the $5.2bn spent in...
ACT childcare costs remain highest in country, workforce qualifications low, figures show
ABC News - February 6, 2015Canberra families continue to shoulder the most expensive child care in the country, according to new figures. The Productivity Commission's latest Report on Government Services (ROGS) showed the average cost of long daycare in the ACT was $463 per week. That is $78 more than the national...
Companies facing two tax rates
The Australian - David Uren - February 6, 2015THE Coalition is moving towards the introduction of a two-tiered corporate tax system for the first time in 40 years after Social Services Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the levy designed to fund the now-abandoned paid parental leave scheme would not be redirected to childcare. The Australian...
Big business must pay the baby tax, say daycare centres
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 5, 2015DAYCARE centres are demanding that big business bankroll the Abbott government's childcare reforms, by paying a 1.5 per cent levy. Community Child Care Co-operative chief executive Leanne Gibbs said large companies should continue to pay the 1.5 per cent "baby tax", which was to...
Throwing the PPL baby out with the bathwater
Business Spectator - Victoria Thieberger - February 5, 2015Parental leave, childcare, changing workplace culture to accept greater flexibility in working hours for both mothers and fathers: these should all form part of one continuous debate about enabling women who want to return to paid work to do so. Never mind some harebrained scheme to...
Au pairs could be the solution to childcare problems in Australia
NEWS.com.au - February 5, 2015Parents across Australia are facing this dilemma, and since successive governments have failed to address the undersupply and ever-spiralling cost of child care, it has become one of today's hottest political issues. Even now that Tony Abbott has abandoned his paid parental leave scheme...
