Child Care News
Law passed to make pre-school compulsory
The Australian - November 14, 2012PRE-PRIMARY education has been made compulsory in Western Australia after a bill was passed in parliament to ensure 13 years of compulsory schooling. The School Education Amendment Bill 2012 will come into effect on January 1 next year. Education Minister Peter Collier said pre-primary...
Parents to join rally for childcare worker wages
Herald Sun - November 14, 2012HUNDREDS of mums and dads are expected to join childcare workers in a rally outside Parliament House on Saturday over wage concerns. Jess Walsh, Victorian secretary of United Voice - the union representing early childhood workers - said low wages were responsible for a third of childcare...
Care worker charged with raping children
ABC News - Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop - November 14, 2012A man has faced court accused of raping children at an after-school care centre in Sydney's north-west. The 27-year-old staff member was arrested on Tuesday and charged with nine offences, including sexual intercourse with a child and persistent sexual abuse. The offences were allegedly...
Safe card for child carers
The Mercury - Philip Heyward - November 14, 2012TASMANIA needs a compulsory and comprehensive "working with children" licence to protect young people, says Children's Commissioner Aileen Ashford. Tasmania is the only state without such a check, known elsewhere as a Blue Card. It is designed to reduce the possibility of unsuitable...
G8 buys childcare centres for $28m
Gold Coast Bulletin - Martin Rasini - November 13, 2012CHILDCARE specialist G8 Education has taken the reins at 16 centres established by late Australian football legend Jim Stynes after settling a $28 million deal, the company's largest purchase to date. The centres have been operated by Pacific Early Learning Group, associated with Stynes...
'Mega-childcare centre' approved at at Fitzroy Gardens
The Daily Telegraph - Vikki Campion - November 13, 2012A PLAYGROUND and a childcare centre that caused parents to storm Sydney Town Hall last week have been passed despite calls to delay them to address "slapdash community consultation". Councillors called for the proposed park at Fitzroy Gardens to be re-exhibited because...
Children died in fire while carer was shopping, court hears
Sydney Morning Herald - November 13, 2012A young US woman is waiting to find out if she will be found guilty of murder by a jury, after four unsupervised children died when a fire broke out at her home day care centre while she was out shopping. Jessica Tata, 24, of Houston, is charged with four counts of felony murder but is...
The wearying wait for inner-city childcare
Brisbane Times - Clarissa Keil - November 13, 2012There are about 300 children on the waiting list at Kindy Patch Child Care Centre in Brisbane's Paddington – proof aplenty that scoring a childcare spot in the inner city is a competitive business. Parents are expected to keep in touch with their preferred centres – to show they are really keen...
Tilly Devine's patch to become childcare centre
Sydney Morning Herald - Leesha McKenny and Jonathan Swan - November 13, 2012THE razor gangs of Sydney's past were pitted against the childcare needs of its future at the City of Sydney council on Monday night. Councillors voted to transform the former epicentre of vice queen Tilly Devine's brothel empire in Darlinghurst into a multi-level childcare centre, during a meeting...
Push for tax claim on cost of childcare
The Australian - David Crowe - November 12, 2012FAMILIES would claim the cost of childcare as a deduction under a proposal from the Tax Institute today that steps up the debate over how to encourage more women to return to work after childbirth. The institute's senior tax counsel, Robert Jeremenko, will use a speech in Sydney to...
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore's cash for childcare
The Daily Telegraph - Vicki Campion - November 12, 2012SYDNEY Lord Mayor Clover Moore will tonight call for six new childcare centres to be fast-tracked after a meeting last week was stormed with more than 200 parents, prams and babies. Frustrated mums and dads flooded into Town Hall to vent their anger about the lack of childcare in the city...
Grants to be tripled to staff in childcare
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - November 10, 2012TAXPAYER grants to childcare workers will be more than tripled and rolled out nationally under a bold plan to offer employees up to $3500 to receive formal qualifications that meet tough new quality standards. The new standards are designed to transform centres into learning, rather than...
Stop welfare churn: put the nuclear family back where it belongs
The Australian - Angela Shanahan - November 10, 2012 12:00AMCare of children by their own families is being undermined so much that the childcare industry feels entitled to have the government top up its $1.4 billion wages increase. Meanwhile there is no acknowledgment left in the tax base that a family's single income is meant to support more...
$1 billion boost for tots in preschool
The Daily Telegraph - Jessica Marszalek - November 9, 2012PRESCHOOLS and kindergartens will get a $1.1 billion funding shot as the federal government pushes for more subsidised places for children from poorer families. Schools Minister Peter Garrett will today announce the funds he will kick into a new three-year early childhood agreement...
Childcare giant backs claim, if government pays
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - November 9, 2012THE nation's largest childcare group has publicly backed a contentious wage claim by workers, arguing it needs to be fully funded by the federal government to ensure staff stay and parents are not penalised with higher fees. Goodstart Early Learning has told The Australian its ability to...
