Child Care News
Parents continue to battle for childcare places in NSW
Sunday Telegraph - Lisa Mayoh - November 30, 2013DESPERATE parents are paying non-refundable fees of up to $400 to put their child's name on waiting lists for care, while others queuing up from 3am to secure a spot in pre school for their children. Welcome to the manic search to find childcare in Sydney - and it's about to get worse...
Affinity plans $77.5m childcare centre buy-up
Financial Review - Sally Rose - November 30, 2013Affinity Education Group is a start-up looking to raise $77.5 million to fund buying a network of childcare centres. Since incorporating in May, Affinity’s directors have negotiated 30 conditional agreements (pending a successful float) to buy 68 centres.The strategy is economies of...
Sink or swim in the flood of floats
Financial Review - Philip Baker - November 30, 2013With a number of companies set to list on the ASX, including Affinity, Nine Entertainment and Dick Smith, investors need to pick their punts with care. A wise broker once said the difference between a hand grenade and a company float is that the average investor has enough sense to throw...
Part-time work popular: study
Financial Review - November 29, 2013"Nearly 60 per cent of women caring for children said that the availability of childcare places was also a very important consideration when looking for work, followed by financial assistance with childcare costs," the ABS's Stephen Collett says. The data finds 2.6 million people are...
Greens stand against childcare changes
The Australian - November 26, 2013FEDERAL government plans to review childcare funding face mounting opposition, with the Australian Greens vowing to stand against any legislation in the upper house. The coalition intends to undertake a ministerial review of the Early Years Quality Fund, designed by the former Labor...
Childcare worker betrayal worsens gender gap
Canberra Times - Jenna Price - November 26, 2013The Abbott government wants to entrench the gender pay gap. That early symbolism of having just one woman in cabinet showed a complete disregard and disrespect for half the population. Now that disrespect has been underscored by the next despicable act of this government. Childcare...
GST on fresh food, childcare would boost federal finances and close budget black hole
NEWS.com.au - Jessica Irvine - November 25, 2013BROADENING the GST to apply to fresh food, health, education, childcare, water and sewerage would raise $13 billion a year and help plug a yawning gap in federal finances, new analysis reveals. Despite the weakening economy, Treasurer Joe Hockey is being urged make "tough...
New mums hiring night nannies
The West Australian - Rhianna King - November 24, 2013A growing number of older mothers are spending thousands of dollars on "night nannies" to help feed and settle their newborns and give exhausted parents a good night's sleep. Local nanny agencies are reporting an increase in requests for short-term live-in au pairs and...
Government puts freeze on $300m allocated for childcare staff wages
The Age - Bianca Hall - November 24, 2013A $300 million funding boost aimed at improving the wages of 30,000 childcare workers looks increasingly likely to be axed as the federal government continues to sit on the Labor-approved initiative. The money was to be spent in 1100 childcare centres to bolster the meagre $19...
Tony Abbott's move to freeze child care claims means fees could double for thousands of families
Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - November 24, 1013CHILDCARE fees could double for thousands of parents after Tony Abbott confirmed he would freeze the maximum amount families can claim for the childcare rebate until 2017. Despite criticising Labor's own planned freeze during the election in a personally signed letter to childcare...
I'm right at home with childcare
NEWS.com.au - Wendy Tuohy - November 24, 1013I WAS emotional and he was determined. Each of us seemed to sense the size of the challenge. I was 33, and he was not yet two. It was day one of My Big Childcare Plan finally coming together; I would return to part-time work after more than a year on maternity leave (with holidays and...
Carers split on giving ankle-biters' shoes the boot
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - November 23, 2013IT'S the great shoe debate: should childcare centres allow kids to experience nature unencumbered by footwear and risk the stabbing pain of a bindi, or demand shoes stay on and save the scrubbing that inevitably comes later? Centres across the country are dividing over the issue, with some...
Productivity Review: Childcare critical for parents and carers
The Canberra Times - Matthew Raggatt - November 23, 2013"We would like to have another child but financially, at this stage, we probably couldn't afford to do it until he's at school." For Canberra mother of one Sophie Bhandari, the costs of childcare have created not just the standard modern dilemma of "do I go back to work or not?" but played a...
Women in workforce still at a disadvantage, new COAG report finds
Smart Company - Dan Moss - 20 November 20, 2013Childcare costs act as a disincentive for women to work full-time, and contribute to a gap in retirement savings worth about $207,000 on average between women and men earning the average wage. Costs of childcare have increased between 2010 and 2012, with childcare costs...
The phone call that saved Australia's childcare sector
ABC Radio National - Rebecca Gorman - November 20, 2013In 2008 a mix of entrepreneurs, bankers and charities banded together to save ABC Learning's 700 childcare centres from the clutches of private equity. Rebecca Gorman, whose RN series Profit with Purpose is investigating new approaches to ethical investing, explores the anatomy of the biggest...
