Child Care News

Airbrushing offered for kindy photos
Herald Sun - Michelle Ainsworth - July 17, 2012

THE rough and tumble of childhood could be airbrushed out of history, a Melbourne mum fears. When her three-year-old son's professional childcare photos came home with an offer to airbrush away dirt and bruising on his face, mum Amanda Cox was saddened. The note attached to...

Should vaccination be compulsory?
ABC 612 Brisbane - Amanda Dell - 16 July 2012

Childcare centres are ripe breeding grounds for illness, but if it's more serious than a cold, should non-vaccinated children be excluded? Rebecca Levingston spoke to Peter Price from Childcare Queensland and Dr Alexandra Markwell, president of the AMAQ...

Parents who dodge vaccinating their kids are pocketing thousands of dollars
The Daily Telegraph - Renee Viellaris - July 15, 2012

While parents have been warned they will lose their payment and the childcare benefit if they do not fully immunise their children, they are also being told exemptions will be given to objectors. All they have to do to dodge the requirements and receive the money is fill out a form…

Going snotty: childhood illnesses
News.com.au - Fiona Baker - July 14, 2012

FACT: kids get sick. But does going to child care elevate their chances of falling prey to illness? It is that time of year when kids take on the look of a glazed doughnut. Faces and sleeves are shiny with excretions from noses which seem to run like a tap. Meanwhile, children are snotty...

Childcare costs hitting families
The Daily Advertiser - Jade Martin - 13 Jul, 2012

The meeting was the first in a series of regional childcare forums. Ms Ley said it was interesting to hear how the concerns of regional childcare providers differed to those in city regions, adding that most educators were keen to share how the increased amount of paperwork and administration…

Childcare giant calls for redirection of rebates from parents to providers
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - July 11, 2012

THE nation's largest childcare group has told the Gillard government its reforms are costing too much to implement and providers need more funding to keep price rises under control. An executive summary of the submission by Goodstart, obtained by The Australian, calls for a...

Childcare care costs will grow faster than a toddler
The Australian - Judith Sloan - July 10, 2012

CONVENING a summit on any topic almost always means politics are not running well for the government. So when Julia Gillard convened a summit on childcare in early June, we could infer there were lots of grumblings coming from elector land about the costs and inflexibility of...

Austock sells management unit
The Australian - Sarah Danckert - July 10, 2012

AILING former broker Austock has agreed to sell its property funds management business, which controls more than $500 million in childcare centres, hospitals and police stations, to listed fund manager Folkestone. In a deal worth $11m, all shares in Austock Property Funds Management...

Charges dropped against Eddy Groves
The Australian - Natasha Bita - July 7, 2012

PROSECUTORS have dropped criminal charges against Eddy Groves, the entrepreneur at the epicentre of one of Australia's biggest corporate crashes. Mr Groves, who founded Australia's largest childcare chain, ABC Learning, yesterday said he had been notified "a couple of days…

ABC Childcare founder Eddy Groves ordered to pay bank millions
Adelaide Now - Russell Emmerson - July 6, 2012

THE share and property portfolio of ABC Childcare founder Eddy Groves has been laid bare in a South Australian Supreme Court judgment. Justice Malcolm Blue ordered Mr Groves pay Commonwealth Bank almost $8.4 million in principal and interest for a $5 million unsecured loan...

Japanese military base opens nurseries
Sky News - July 5, 2012

By 2030, one third of Japan will be in retirement rarely doing any job at all. And getting mothers back into work quickly will, by then, be matter of economic urgency. But so far across Japan, more than twenty thousand toddlers are unable to find a place in childcare...

Coalition to meet on work/family balance
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - July 04, 2012

THE Coalition will meet with Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick to discuss policy ideas to deliver "bold shifts" in work/family balance. Opposition spokeswoman for childcare and employment participation Sussan Ley told The Australian she would consult with Ms Broderick...

Childcare subsidies fail to lift hours worked
BRW - Georgina Dent - July 4, 2012

Subsidies for the cost of childcare has increased the number of hours worked by parents but only by an hour a week or less. A research report presented by Macquarie University's Nick Parr and Griffith University's Ross Guest indicates the childcare rebate, introduced in 2008, has had...

Kids v career: Should school hours be extended to accommodate working mothers?
Herald Sun - Wendy Tuohy - July 4, 2012

THIS will not be popular with kids, but I think there is a case for Australian school hours to be extended. This would enhance parents' opportunities to work and may even help guarantee the children's working futures - through education. I agree with Elizabeth Broderick's...

Rethinking the work-family balance of power
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - July 3, 2012

CHANGING school hours and expanding the range of subsidised childcare options are two things that could help create genuine equality between working men and women, according to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Elizabeth Broderick has told The Australian policymakers and...