Child Care News

Childcare IPO to run at NZX
Financial Review - Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Gretchen Friemann - August 14, 2014

ASB and Goldman Sachs are overseeing the roll-up of 70-odd New Zealand childcare centres into a company called Evolve Education. Evolve is expected to seek a New Zealand listing before the end of the year in a deal that would value the new entity at up to $NZ250 million ($227 million)...

Labor, Liberals unite to demand certainty on childcare funding
Canberra Times - Primrose Riordan - August 13, 2014

Both Labor and the Canberra Liberals have backed a motion in the ACT assembly on Wednesday for more federal certainty over the hours of childcare the Commonwealth will fund. The motion calls attention to a federal, state and territory funding pact that runs out at the end of this year...

Labor eggs govt on parental leave change
Sydney Morning Herald - August 13, 2014

Labor has taken the Abbott government to task over possible changes to its paid parental leave scheme while calling again for the "unfair and extravagant" policy to be dumped. The government is considering diverting some of the scheme's $9.6 billion cost towards a broader childcare policy...

Ideas for women: Give a childcare spot to every 2 year old
Women's Agenda - Georgina Dent - August 13, 2104

When a child turns five in Australia, give or take a few months depending on the state, there is a guaranteed place for them at school. Parents might choose to send them to a private or a religious primary school but should they choose to use the public education system there is a place for...

The difference between working dads and working mums
Daily Life - Andie Fox - August 13, 2014

The 2014 Westpac Women of Influence Report has found that almost seven out of ten mothers think responsibility for ensuring childcare options rests with government, whereas only half the fathers surveyed do. Fathers are more likely than mothers to think parents should be responsible...

Is raising in the news at G8?
Financial Review - August 12, 2014

Childcare centre roll-up G8 Education's interim results were well received on Monday. Investors lapped them up and the stock hit its year high of $5.07 during the day, but experienced fund managers said it appeared to be a pre-capital raising news drive. First off, G8's results drop was...

100,000 vulnerable children at risk of losing childcare spots
Sydney Morning Herald - Rachel Browne - August 12, 2014

Almost 100,000 youngsters from low-income families could be forced out of childcare if their eligibility for federal government subsidies is restricted under recommendations put forward by the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the early childhood sector. Non-profit childcare giant...

Nation's largest childcare operator G8 posts boom profit
Sydney Morning Herald - Jessica Gardner - August 11, 2014

G8 Education chair Jenny Hutson says the childcare operator h's no plans to move to a single brand, despite the company's centres operating under 19 names in two countries. The nation’s largest for-profit childcare company has embarked on an aggressive buy-up of centres over the...

Few of Victoria's top education bureaucrats have worked in schools
The Age - Geoff Maslen - August 11, 2014

Only four of the 55 senior public servants who administer Victoria's multibillion-dollar Education Department have had direct experience of running a school. Critics say the absence of administrators with a detailed understanding of school operations is akin to an army being led by...

G8 Education buys childcare centres as profit soars
Financial Review - Jessica Gardner - August 11, 2014

The country's largest listed childcare provider G8 Education has reported a 48 per cent rise in interim net profit after tax to $16.3 million, tied to the group's aggressive roll up of centres. The company reported a 59 per cent rise in revenue to $187.2 million, in the six months ended June...

At-home mothers face barriers going into the workforce
Sun Herald - Jacqueline Maley - August 10, 2014

Governments have caught up - the workforce participation of women is now a major economic issue, which has led to public debate about maternity leave policy and the cost of childcare. In 2013, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was lambasted for defending his controversial Paid Parental...

Productivity and jobs
Financial Review - David Leyonhjelm - August 10, 2014

I think if we really want to help women get back into the workforce and that's a choice, give them the choice to come back into the workforce if they want to… after children let's fix up the childcare system. That is far more significant in terms of keeping women out of the workforce, what to do…

Job rules to spark childcare 'exodus'
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 9, 2014

TENS of thousands of children will be forced out of their childcare centres if stringent new work rules are imposed on parents, ­according to the Australian Childcare Alliance which represents private providers. The Productivity Commission has delivered an interim draft ­report for a major…

More use home service and nannies
The West Australian - Rhianna King - August 8, 2014

Demand for home-based care is surging in WA as families wanting flexible child care seek out nannies, au pairs and day care. Family day care, in which up to four children at a time are cared for in the provider's home, has doubled in the past three years to 1490 carers. About 600 families a...

FIFO families seek flexible care
The West Australian - Angela Pownall and Grace Millimaci - August 8, 2014

The inflexibility of traditional childcare services is a big problem for shift and fly-in, fly-out workers, according to the founder of a support network for FIFOs. FIFO Families director Nicole Ashby said she had raised the issue with politicians in the hope changes would be made to help families...