Child Care News

Ballarat City Council makes blunder over childcare respite service
The Courier - Rachel Afflick - July 17, 2013

THE federal government's education department will rewrite its childcare service handbook, after the Ballarat City Council slashed its overnight family day care program based on a misunderstanding. Sebastopol parents Clinton and Ebony Ainsley were devastated when, earlier...

Australia's FIIG plans third bond deal with G8 Education notes
Bloomberg News - Benjamin Purvis - July 17, 2013

FIIG Securities Ltd., an Australian fixed-income specialist, is arranging its third bond with at least A$30 million ($28 million) of notes offered by G8 Education Ltd (GEM). The six-year senior unsecured securities, which are unrated, will be issued by the end of August, according to...

The fight to keep childcare centres public
Daily Telegraph - July 17, 2013

A petition carrying 3000 signatures that opposing the privatisation of childcare centres will be presented to Blacktown councillors tonight. Greenway federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland is expected to hand the petition to councillors at the meeting at the council chambers. It is...

Climbing costs of bringing up baby
Daily Telegraph - Simon Black - July 16, 2013

BOUTIQUE baby foods and older parents keen to get back to work are driving up the cost of raising kids, with Aussie parents now spending more than $7000 a year per child. New research by industry group IBISWorld shows childcare costs of $4061 a year are by far the biggest expense...

Union seeks to increase childcare workers'' pay by $10 an hour
The Guardian - Bridie Jabour - July 15, 2013

A bid by the United Voice union to increase early childcare workers' pay by about a third has won support from the Coalition, while the Labor party is still considering it. United Voice lodged a complaint with Fair Work Australia on Monday for the average childcare worker's wage to be...

Baby means business: cashing in on infant spending
Marketing Magazine - July 15, 2013

The results estimate that a child in this age bracket will set you back $3037 annually - excluding childcare. Throw childcare into the mix and that cost rises to about $7098 per child annually. IBISWorld general manager, Australia, Karen Dobie, says childcare is by far the biggest...

Norway is proof that you can have it all
The Australian - Paul Cleary - July 15, 2013

CONSERVATIVE politicians in Australia and around the world have long derided Scandinavian countries for their high levels of taxation and lavish welfare, but Tony Abbott might find a quick visit to the far north of Europe would provide evidence to support his signature policy reform: six...

Childcare workers launch landmark equal pay case
Sydney Morning Herald - Stephanie Peatling - July 14, 2013

The value of work done by childcare educators will be tested in a historic equal pay case to be lodged with the industrial arbiter on Monday. United Voice, the union representing childcare workers, will lodge a claim with the Fair Work Commission arguing educators are paid less than...

Childcare workers still wait for pay rise
Financial Review - Fleur Anderson - July 13, 2013

Former prime minister Julia Gillard's $300 million government subsidy for childcare workers' wages has passed its intended start date with still no guarantee when workers will receive the higher wages. The two-year Early Years Quality Fund, which has been criticised as a tool for building...

Commissioner for children proposed by South Australian Government a decade after child protection inquiry
ABC News - July 12, 2013

Years after it was recommended in a report, an advocate for children is planned in South Australia. A commissioner for children and young people is proposed as an independent advocate, as part of a legislative package by the SA Government. SA Education and Child Development Minister...

Preschool personality may predict teenage alcohol use
Virginia Commonwealth University - July 12, 2013

A new study shows that the way children behave before they turn 5 years old may predict their alcohol use as teenagers. There are few studies that chart developmental pathways from early childhood to adolescent alcohol-related outcomes, but an international research team, led by...

Don't blame poor genes for school dunces, childhood experts warn
The Australian - Natasha Bita - July 11, 2013

RICH kids can be just as thick as their poorer classmates, a Labor Party senator declared yesterday. The parliamentary secretary for housing and homelessness, Senator Doug Cameron, rubbished "inconclusive research" by the Productivity Commission linking poor kids' genes to...

Is it time to give tax breaks for nannies?
Financial Review - Maria O'Brien - July 11, 2013

At a recent "Women and Work" forum hosted by my local member, Malcolm Turnbull, concerns around childcare were epitomised by the final statement that came from the floor. Sally explained she was an architect working three days a week. She had two children, one at school and one...

Eddy Groves, who ran collapsed childcare operator ABC Learning, joins lawsuit against Great Southern
Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - July 11, 2013

EDDY Groves, who ran a childcare empire that eventually collapsed owing $2.7 billion, has joined a lawsuit to recoup his investment in a failed forestry scheme. The class action was run by DC Legal, a Sydney firm that also tried to drum up business for a similar lawsuit against Mr Groves's old...

Childcare challenges exacerbate female attrition
Lawyers Weekly - Leanne Mezrani - 10 July, 2013

The president of Australian Women Lawyers (AWL) has claimed that Australia’s inaccessible childcare system is stopping lawyers and barristers from returning to work after maternity leave. Kate Ashmor (pictured) told Lawyers Weekly that anecdotal evidence suggests that an inability...