Child Care News
Asian nannies one answer to childcare costs
The Age - Matt Wade - March 29, 2014The cost of childcare has been a political bugbear for more than a decade. But a submission to a crucial government inquiry into childcare has come up with a novel solution: low-cost Asian nannies. The Indonesia Institute, a Perth-based think tank, says carers from countries such as...
Hands up who would work if they had access to cheaper childcare
The Guardian - Greg Jericho - March 28, 2014Workforce participation can't be increased without first acknowledging the lack of accessible, affordable childcare. New data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms that the biggest issues keeping women out of the labour force are the cost, access and...
Billion-dollar business
The Age - Iain Gillespie - March 28, 2014Childcare is by far the biggest expenditure for new parents. Close to 50 per cent of children aged up to four use day-care services, Dobie says. Increased demand for infant care is due to a surge in the number of working parents, and childcare revenue is expected to reach more than $6.6 billion...
Unions seek $27 lift in minimum wage
Financial Review - Joanna Mather and Mathew Dunckley - March 28, 2014Mr Oliver said the increase was reasonable and affordable and would amount to a 71c raise for 750,000 of the nation's lowest-paid workers, included cleaners, retail and hospitality staff, childcare workers, farm labourers and factory workers. "The minimum wage is now just 43.3 per cent of...
Broker Watch - G8 Education (GEM)
Financial Review - Elise Shaw - March 28, 2014Deutsche Bank maintained its "buy" on G8 Education and increased its 12-month price target from $5.20 a share to $6.20 a share. Childcare operator G8 Education announced this week it is buying 91 centres from Sterling Early Education for $228 million, just a week after Sterling's float was...
Families seek a Poppins touch
The Age - Carolyn Boyd - March 28, 2014Nannies are in demand as loving carers, writes Carolyn Boyd. The best thing about being a nanny, says Phoebe Pownall, is rediscovering the world all over again. "Every day is just such a positive interaction," says Pownall, who has been a professional nanny for six years and has a degree in...
Creche course for parents
The Age - Carolyn Boyd - March 28, 2014Planning is the key to balancing childcare with work and other duties, writes Carolyn Boyd. Parents wondering how they will juggle childcare and work should rest assured - it isn't always easy but it can be done, and you shouldn't feel guilty when things occasionally go astray. Nesha O'Neil...
Why feminists should support childcare deregulation
The Drum - Trisha Jha - March 27, 2014We can't keep hoping that higher subsidies will cancel out the rising cost of childcare red tape - that's why we should support deregulation in the name of gender equity, writes Trisha Jha. It used to be petrol prices and housing affordability, but the new 'BBQ stopper' occupying the minds and...
The new philanthropy targets preschoolers for social impact bonds
The Australian - March 27, 2014ABOUT 600 three and four-year-olds are attending preschool in Salt Lake County and Park City, Utah, this year thanks to an innovative financing model that is catching the attention of government officials and lawmakers across the country. Under results-based financing, also known as pay-for...
Traffic conditions simulated at preschool's new road-safety facility
Canberra Times - Megan Gorrey - March 27, 2014Canberra's next generation of cyclists can build the road-safety skills and confidence they'll need to one day hit the city's streets. Children at Southern Cross Early Childhood School in Scullin took to bikes and scooters as they trialled a new, $122,000 "Learn to Ride" facility on Wednesday. The...
Affinity acquires seven child care centres
Finance News Network - March 26, 2014Affinity Education Group Limited (ASX:AFJ) has inked deals to acquire seven childcare centres for about $8 million. The provider of education and child care services says the centres are expected to be immediately earnings per share accretive. Settlement of the transactions is still conditional on...
G8 Education to raise $100m to pay for Sterling takeover
The Australian - Brett Cole - March 26, 2014G8 Education, the provider of childcare facilities, said it plans to raise $100 million in a share sale to fund managers and individual investors to help fund its $228 million purchase of Sterling Early Education, which was announced earlier this week. In a statement to the ASX, G8 said its shares...
There is a need to take a 'big picture' look at the entire childcare system
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - March 26, 2014DRAMATICALLY increasing support for disadvantaged children should be a priority for the Productivity Commission in its review of the early childhood education and care sector, the national children's peak body says. Early Childhood Australia has called for an incentive program to...
Vassallo's $65m childcare network sale
The West Australian - Kim Macdonald - March 25, 2014Entrepreneur Rory Vassallo has sold his 22 WA childcare centres to listed company G8 Education in a deal rumoured to be worth $65 million. Mr Vassallo yesterday confirmed the unconditional sale of the Vassallo Corporation's portfolio of childcare centres, which is expected to settle this week...
Childcare rebate freeze set to end
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - March 25, 2014THE Abbott government quietly let through legislation that will end the freeze on the childcare rebate, leaving the Coalition searching for a new way to keep the payment at $7500 a child. The rebate, which is not means-tested and provides parents with 50 per cent of their childcare costs...
