Child Care News
Fees top PM roundtable on childcare
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas and Natasha Robinson - June 8, 2012JULIA Gillard is considering a shake-up of the childcare system, with the government modelling radical new ideas including paying childcare centres directly in exchange for moderated fee rises, creating a single childcare payment and subsidising staff pay. The Prime Minister hosted a summit...
Daycare centres price themselves out of market over smaller options
The Daily Telegraph - Neil Keene - June 8, 2012PARENTS frustrated by years-long waiting lists and soaring daily fees are turning to other childcare options. The number of Australian children in family daycare - home-run care for groups of up to five - has jumped by more than 30 per cent in five years, Department of Education, Employment...
Childcare allowance uproar
Sydney Morning Herald - June 8, 2012BERLIN. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet has approved a bill to provide parents of toddlers with an allowance for keeping their children out of state-run day care, a move that critics say would derail recent efforts to encourage German women to return to work after starting a...
Childcare's market model in dire need of reform
The Conversation - Eva Cox - June 7, 2012Just who carries the costs of childcare services has become a visible political issue in the last few weeks, as the federal government confronts its own ideological mess. Concerns over the decreasing affordability of childcare have prompted Prime Minister Julia Gillard to convene a child...
Child care changes will take time: Gillard
ABC News - Simon Cullen - June 7, 2012The Federal Government appears to be in no rush to make any changes to the child care system, amid Opposition claims today's summit was just a "talkfest". Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with child care workers and providers in Sydney today in response to growing concerns about...
Gillard forms childcare task force
The Australian - June 7, 2012PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says she will act on ideas from a childcare forum within the "next few months". Ms Gillard met with childcare providers and unions in Sydney today to discuss the next stage in reform of the sector. "What is clear from today's meeting is if we are going...
Childcare reform to appease unions: Libs
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - June 7, 2012THE Opposition has accused Julia Gillard of having a secret agenda to give the childcare industry more layers of regulation and red tape in a bid to appease childcare unions rather than giving parents more support. The Coalition's Childcare spokeswoman Sussan Ley said the Coalition...
Julia Gillard presides over question time for mums
The Australian - Ben Packham - June 7, 2012JULIA Gillard took her cost of living campaign directly to Australian mothers today, blogging about rising childcare costs on popular women's website Mamamia. Bypassing the mainstream media, the Prime Minister fielded questions from more than 400 mums on childcare cost, quality...
Childcare providers meet PM in hurried summit
The Age - Rachel Wells, Michelle Grattan - June 7, 2012THE Prime Minister will meet childcare providers and unions at a national summit today - to which they were invited on Tuesday. "We weren't expecting it at all, and we don't know why it was called on such short notice," said Barbara Romeril, executive director of the Community...
Childcare strategy to limit fees and up pay
Sydney Morning Herald - Phillip Coorey - June 7, 2012THE federal government could subsidise the wages and other costs of childcare providers in return for them keeping their fees contained, as part of a planned structural shake-up of the sector to keep it affordable. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will meet childcare providers and...
Julia Gillard calls crisis meeting to tackle childcare costs
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - June 7, 2012JULIA Gillard will convene an emergency summit with the childcare sector and unions today to discuss big changes to the system, after she conceded parents needed help from rising costs. The Prime Minister will face calls for radical reforms and an overhaul of the system...
Nanny push at childcare summit
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - June 7, 2012JULIA Gillard will be urged to extend the in-home nannies program to help families balancing child care with shift work when she holds her emergency childcare summit today. President of the National In-Home Care Association (NICA) David Wilson said that an essential part of...
The Prime Minister is here right now
Mamamia - June 6, 2012The Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Child Care Minister Kate Ellis are at Mamamia HQ to have that same conversation with you, answering your questions and replying to your comments live right here...
Kemp not guilty of ABC Learning breaches
Brisbane Times - Christine Flatley - June 5, 2012A former ABC Learning Centres director has been cleared of breaching the Corporations Act when he arranged for the childcare chain to purchase three centres he owned. Martin Kemp was found not guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday afternoon of one count of...
Pay rises, rebate erosion pushing childcare costs out of reach
The Australian - Christian Kerr - June 4, 2012UNREASONABLE union demands and inadequate government support are squeezing families out of childcare, the sector's peak body says. A survey issued yesterday by the union representing childcare workers, United Voice, found fees had increased 11 per cent in the past year to more...
