Child Care News
Cost of childcare centres doubles in 10 years with the most expensive a whopping $164 a day
Daily Telegraph - May 19, 2014PARENTS are now being charged $100 or more a day for childcare at more than 15 per cent of centres across NSW - with Sydney's most expensive charging a whopping $164. As families grapple with the hip-pocket hit from last week's Budget, a Daily Telegraph analysis of the data from the...
Fees-rise fears for family day care
The Age - Matt Wade and Sherrill Nixon - May 19, 2014Parents using family day care have been warned their childcare fees will jump by up to $35 a week and some small childcare providers could be put out of business because of federal funding cuts. The budget revealed $157 million would be saved over three years from mid-2015 by tightening...
Single mums fail to find work
The Australian - Natasha Bita - May 19, 2014Associate professor Roger Wilkins, of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research, said the lack of family-friendly jobs and affordable childcare were the biggest hurdles to mothers finding work. "The government's own projections for the next four years are slow...
Childcare costs soaring: Mums handing over half their daily wage in fees
Courier Mail - Lauren Wilson, Lisa Cornish - May 19, 2014CHILDCARE costs have cracked $100 a day at centres in Brisbane, or half the average daily take-home pay for mums. As families face the hip-pocket hits of last week's Budget, Courier-Mail analysis of the data from the mychild.gov.au website reveals 14 long day care centres across...
Adelaide gets its first $100-a-day long-day childcare centre
The Advertiser - Lauren Wilson - May 18, 2014PARENTS are being charged up to $100 a day for childcare at South Australia's most expensive long-day-care centre. An Advertiser analysis of the data from the mychild.gov.au website shows more than 10 per cent of long-day-care centres across the country are asking mums and dads...
Grandparents make grand carers
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - May 18, 2014The use of costly nannies to look after children is on the wane, with grandparents and childcare centres taking up the slack instead, a survey of 1900 parents shows. And the increasing use of grandparents for childcare has led to strong calls for the Productivity Commission's childcare...
Welfare leaders back GST reform
The Australian - Phillip Hudson and Jared Owens - May 17, 2014SOCIAL justice campaigner Tim Costello has called for the GST to be expanded to cover private school fees, fresh food, water, sewerage, childcare and health to fix structural problems in government budgets. Mr Costello's controversial call was backed last night by Graeme Samuel…
Childcare subsidy cuts to hit middle and low income families, warns Early Childhood
Sydney Morning Herald - Matt Wade - May 16, 2014The federal government is under fire for a budget change that will deprive families of $230 million in childcare subsidies over the next four years. The income eligibility threshold for the Child Care Benefit will be frozen for three years from July 1, saving the budget $33 million next financial...
Doubts over paid parental leave scheme
Financial Review - Fleur Anderson - May 15, 2014Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the government needed to do a "rethink" before it is introduced. "We need the right mix of paid parental leave, childcare and tax incentives," Ms Westacott told Radio National. "We just keep picking one of these things. If I had...
Changes 'punish stay-at-home mothers'
The Australian - Natasha Bita - May 15, 2014A mother earning $40,000 a year with two children in childcare takes home $156 for three days' work after she pays tax and daycare fees. If she works a full five-day week, she takes home just $49 more for working the extra two days. A woman earning $70,000, with two kids in daycare...
Benefit will cut out at $100,000
The Australian - Natasha Bita - May 14, 2014NEARLY 600,000 families with school-aged kids will be stripped of family tax benefits as the government slashes $7.3 billion from family payments over the next four years. Breadwinners earning more than $100,000 will be barred from the benefit, as the longstanding $150,000 "high...
Budget 2014: Family Tax Benefit cuts worth billions to hit families
ABC News - Penny McLintock - May 14, 2014Families face cuts in welfare payments under the Federal Government's changes to Family Tax Benefit rules. The biggest changes are hitting Family Tax Benefit Part B (FTB-B), which will be cut for families when their youngest child turns six. Currently about 60 per cent of families with...
Federal budget: what it means for women, parents and families
Sydney Morning Herald - Marie Coleman - May 13, 2014"Staying at home should be a parent's choice but there are limits on how much support the taxpayer can give," Treasurer Joe Hockey says. He wants to give people over 50 "every opportunity to participate in the workforce", and says "Australians under 30 should be earning or...
NT budget 'family friendly', govt says
ABC News - Xavier La Canna - May 13, 2014NT Treasurer Dave Tollner said it was a "miracle budget" that was able to make savings without inflicting pain on ordinary Territorians. The NT budget revealed an estimated deficit of $723m in 2014/15, well above previous estimates, largely because it included the $521.3m cost of a new...
City of Sydney budgets for a record $1.94 billion infrastructure spend
Sydney Morning Herald - Leesha McKenny - May 13, 2014But Labor has criticised the council's draft budget and long-term financial plan – billed as an infrastructure program for the city's rapidly growing population – as failing to deliver on a promise to meet the city's immediate demand for more childcare. The council''s largest-ever capital works...
