Child Care News

Worry grows over safety of childhood jabs
Sydney Morning Herald - Kate Hagan - May 20, 2013

More than half of Australia's parents are worried about the safety of childhood vaccines, a survey has revealed, prompting concerns that a shift in support for vaccination could lead to reduced coverage rates and outbreaks of disease. More than 1300 Australians, including 400 parents...

Kate Ellis reveals 150,000 families face childcare pain in Budget
Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - May 19, 2013

CHILDCARE Minister Kate Ellis has revealed up to 150,000 families will be stung by the Budget's decision to freeze a $7500 cap on childcare relief for half a decade. For the first time, the Gillard government has admitted the number of families who face being cut off from the childcare rebate...

Why Joe Hockey knows what women really want
Sunday Telegraph - Samantha Maiden - May 19, 2013

JOE Hockey has backed tax deductibility for childcare and broken with Liberal Party policy on the possible need for quotas for women on boards. In an exclusive interview, Mr Hockey said working mums were crucial to productivity. "I argued early on for tax deductibility for childcare and I was...

NSW bill to ban 'anti-vax' kids
NEWS.com.au - May 19, 2013

UNVACCINATED children would be banned from NSW preschools and childcare centres under legislation to be introduced into state parliament. Labor leader John Robertson will introduce amendments to the public health act which would give early childhood centres the right to refuse...

Abbott's baby bonus in disguise
Sydney Morning Herald - Anne Summers - May 18, 2013

Having six months leave after childbirth, even at full salary, does nothing to address the far more intractable problem of how to find, and fund, full-time childcare for the first five years, and then before and/or after-school care for up to a further decade. The government has put a lot of...

Work pressures force parents to send ill children to school or childcare
Herald Sun - Karen Collier - May 16, 2013

PARENTS worried about keeping their jobs are dumping sick kids at school and childcare centres. One in three has admitted occasionally sending an ill child to school because they can't arrange alternative care. The sick bay syndrome emerged in a survey about the impact of cold and flu...

Rebate freeze 'strain' on working parents
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - May 16, 2013

THE head of the nation's largest childcare chain has criticised the decision to redirect funding to the Gonski school reforms. Goodstart Early Learning chief executive Julia Davison said yesterday the money was better invested in the early years before school starts. About 100,000 families will...

Gold Coast mum offered $7 discount after childcare centre staff lost her five-year-old son
Courier Mail - Milena Stojceska - May 16, 2013

A GOLD Coast mother is outraged that staff at a childcare centre lost her five-year-old son, then offered her $7 discount by way of apology. The distressed mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said her son was missing for at least one hour after wandering off from the Helping..

$7500 cap gets four-year pause
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - May 15, 2013

ABOUT 100,000 families will miss out on increases to their Child Care Rebate, after Wayne Swan continued the three-year pause on the indexation of the payment, keeping the $7500 cap on out-of-pocket fees for parents. After promising last year to deliver for families facing spiralling childcare...

AN extra $655.6 million will be spent on preschool places
The Australian - Justine Ferrari - May 15, 2013

AN extra $655.6 million will be spent on preschool places over the next 18 months as part of an extension of the national partnership on early childhood education. A meeting of the Council of Australian Governments last month agreed to a new national partnership deal to ensure universal...

Cost of help for families to top $25b
Sydney Morning Herald - Stephanie Peatling - May 15, 2013

Government assistance to families to help them with the soaring cost of childcare will top $25 billion over the next four years. However the government has rejected calls from the childcare industry to do more to simplify the way assistance payments are made to families. "We know that one of...

Federal Budget 2013: Baby bonus will be axed to get working Australian parents off welfare
NEWS.com.au - Natasha Bita - May 15, 2013

AXING the Baby Bonus and pruning family payments will strip middle-class families of more than $3 billion in benefits, as the Gillard government weans working parents off welfare. About 28,000 families who have a baby next year will miss out on any taxpayer benefits - and families face...

Roof space on Flinders Street attracts city childcare tenant
The Age - Simon Johanson - May 15, 2013

The children of city office workers are set to get another rooftop early learning centre. Due to high demand, the number of child care spaces has doubled in the past eight years. But despite the increase, there are still relatively few centres to cater for the thousands of office workers who...

NSW Health Department reveals schools and centres don't have immunisation information from parents
The Daily Telegraph - Jane Hansen - May 14, 2013

MANY childcare centres and schools are failing to obtain the correct immunisation information from parents, a NSW Health Department pilot program has revealed. By law, nurseries and schools are required to view the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register-issued history statements...

Family Day Care in Hobart - why are centres closing?
ABC Radio Hobart - Ryk Goddard - May 14, 2013

Glenorchy and Huonville are closing Family Day Care centres. Is this because the new ratio of four children to one carer is unsustainable? Do parents even want family day care to offer 'education' in the same way as a creche? Or do you as a parent choose family day care because you want your...