Child Care News
Need for nannies soars as Perth parents seek all-hours care
WA Today - Aleisha Orr - August 10, 2012Perth parents are turning to nannies in droves as a flexible alternative to child care centres. Director of Perth Nanny Care Agency Leila Redmond said demand for nannies had doubled in the past year. She said she had to drastically increase her staff numbers to meet the growing need...
Government to boost in-home childcare places
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 9, 2012CHILDCARE Minister Kate Ellis has declared "traditional centre-based (child) care" isn't the answer for every family and that desperate parents need more alternatives. Her remarks follow today's report in The Australian that Labor had opened the door to taxpayer-funded nannies, but said the...
Regulation to allow subsidies for nannies a long way off, says Childcare Minister Kate Ellis
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 9, 2012CHILDCARE Minister Kate Ellis has declared "traditional centre-based (child) care" isn't the answer for every family and that desperate parents need more alternatives. Her remarks follow today's report in The Australian that Labor had opened the door to taxpayer-funded nannies, but said the...
Labor acts on rebate call for nannies
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 9, 2012THE Gillard government has for the first time opened the door to taxpayer-funded nannies, declaring the commonwealth was prepared to work with the states to regulate the industry as it had done for the family daycare sector. After Tony Abbott pledged to request a Productivity...
Call for extended childcare
The Age - Rachel Wells - August 9, 2012PAYING the childcare rebate directly to centres, instead of parents, and extending access to childcare beyond normal hours, were among the proposals put forward at a childcare forum held in Melbourne yesterday. Key stakeholders, including representatives from the non-profit and private...
After hours childcare rescues parents who work weekends and at night
Herald Sun - Susie O'Brien - August 9, 2012MORE and more Victorian children are in childcare overnight, in the evenings and at weekends as family day care comes to the rescue of working parents. Carers looking after children in their own homes are stepping up to help shiftworkers who are still largely ignored by centre-based long...
Five-year ban slapped on ABC Learning auditor
The Australian - Natasha Nita - August 9, 2012THE corporate regulator has taken its first scalp over the collapse of Australia's biggest childcare chain, ABC Learning, by slapping its auditor with a five-year work ban. A month after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission withdrew a criminal charge against the company's...
Broderick backs Coalition's call to search for childcare flexibility
The Australian - Pia Akerman - August 8, 2012SEX Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has backed the Coalition's proposal for the Productivity Commission to investigate solutions for more flexible childcare. Speaking after a function in Melbourne this morning, Ms Broderick told The Australian she would support any...
A nanny state as taxman turns on mums
The Daily Telegraph - Gemma Jones and Lisa Power - August 8, 2012PARENTS who hire nannies face being hit with bills for back pay, sick leave and superannuation as the industry becomes professional, turning private homes into workplaces. Increased vigilance by the Australian Tax Office to identify cash payments made by families to carers without other...
Call for rebate to cover in-home care
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 8, 2012THE cap on the childcare rebate would be raised to $8100 and cover centre workers moonlighting as in-home carers, under a radical reform blueprint to be presented to the Gillard government. Parents needing out-of-hours care, including at weekends, would get an additional subsidy under...
Nannies cash in on cash-in-hand economy
The Age - Nicole Brady and Deborah Gough - August 5, 2012UP TO 20 per cent of nannies are being paid cash in hand, exposing them and their employers to legal risks, a new lobby group warns. The Australian Nanny Association was incorporated last month to push for increased regulation and oversight of the industry. A key goal is…
Calls grow louder for subsidised nannies
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - August 4, 2012QUEENSLAND and NSW families in need of a subsidised nanny are getting most of the places, with the peak industry group saying demand is significantly outstripping supply for the federal government's capped program. The program is for families who can't use standard childcare...
Big childcare choices need to be made
The Canberra Times - Karen Hardy - August 4, 2012I still have days, I'll admit, where the idea of 24/7 childcare seems like a good idea. Is it possible to put my children into care between the hours of four and eight, have someone else feed them, help with homework, and get them bathed and ready for bed? To give them credit, my children are...
Don't brand listed companies the source of all evil
The Australian - Judith Sloan - August 4, 2012An interesting Australian case-study is the not-for-profit company, Goodstart Early Learning, which arose from the ashes of the listed ABC Learning, the company Eddy Groves had founded. ABC Learning went into voluntary liquidation in 2008 and was bought by GoodStart Childcare...
Childcare fees skyrocketing 10 times faster than inflation
Herald Sun - Phillip Hudson - August 3, 2012CHILDCARE fees in Melbourne are increasing at 10 times the rate of inflation. A typical Melbourne family are more than $100 a week out of pocket when using childcare, despite the Federal Government paying half the cost. Fees were rising at their highest rate since September 2006...
