Child Care News
New childcare concerns at federal pay awards
The Sunday Telegraph - - April 15, 2012CHILDCARE operators fear new federal pay awards will lead to a dramatic drop in the number of daycare places. Alice Voight, who owns the Moore Park Gardens Preschool and Long Daycare Centre, says the government's unified modern pay award will leave NSW childcare staff $4000 out-of-pocket...
One intake for Reception students catches parents off guard
Sunday Mail (SA) - Brad Crouch - April 14, 2012MAJOR changes to the school starting age from 2014 - switching to a single intake for Reception instead of every term - is flying under the radar of parents. While children can now be enrolled in Reception when they turn five, from 2014 there will be a single intake only at the start of the year...
Children in hospital after meningococcal outbreak
ABC News - April 14, 2012Three children are in hospital after an outbreak of meningococcal disease at Gladstone in central Queensland. One child is in a serious condition in Brisbane while the other two are stable in Rockhampton. It is believed one of the children attended a child care centre in Gladstone while the...
Parents swoop on childcare vacancies
Herald Sun - Lisa Power and Holly Ife - April 14, 2012DESPERATE parents are using an online alert service so they can call childcare centres as soon as vacancies open up. The online search, which connects parents with 14,000 childcare services nationally, claims to help applicants "jump the queue" by alerting parents to vacancies overnight…
Desperate parents try to jump the childcare queue
The Daily Telegraph - Lisa Power - April 14, 2012Natasha Reddrop, who used VA Pro to find care for her daughter Tessa, said the $20 monthly fee was worth it. The Clovelly mum is now using the service again, this time to seek cheaper care for her one-year-old. "It is so competitive around here. In the eastern suburbs there are so many babies it is really hard to find a spot,"...
Nanny rebate bad policy: Kate Ellis
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 14, 2012CHILDCARE Minister Kate Ellis has declared the Gillard government open to further reform of the childcare system, and willing to embrace "new ideas" about how childcare assistance can "work better for mums and dads" but has drawn the line at subsidising nannies, arguing it is bad policy...
In-home care the shiftworker's godsend
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 13, 2012TWO existing childcare options for parents -- family daycare and the small in-home care program -- should be greatly expanded to give working parents more options if they need their child cared for around the 24-hour cycle. National peak body Family Day Care Australia yesterday entered the nanny wars...
Taxpayers fund childcare rebate for 130 uber-rich
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 12, 2012ABOUT 130 millionaire families receive the non-means-tested childcare rebate, which the Gillard government yesterday still defended as better than extending it to nannies for the shiftworking poor. Childcare Minister Kate Ellis denied there was a paradox in prohibiting the rebate for nannies...
Parents join forces to share the caring
Herald Sun - Elissa Doherty - April 12, 2012PARENTS sick of inflexible childcare hours, waiting lists and mushrooming costs are getting creative, joining forces to share nannies. As debate rages about expanding subsidies for nannies, parents are taking it on themselves to slash the hefty price tag of a modern-day Mary Poppins...
PM, Penny Wong and Kate Ellis labelled 'shags on a rock' over nanny subsidies
The Australian - April 11, 2012A LIBERAL frontbencher has likened Julia Gillard, Penny Wong and Kate Ellis to "three shags on a rock" over Labor's opposition to taxpayer-funded subsidies for nannies. The opposition wants the Productivity Commission to look into making childcare rebates more flexible. The government has dismissed...
Public 'misled' on childcare costs
The Advertiser - Ken McGregor - April 11, 2012FEDERAL Minister Kate Ellis has accused the Coalition of deliberately misleading the public about childcare costs. The South Australian MP's comments come amid Opposition calls for nannies to be subsidised as part of the childcare rebate. "The Opposition has claimed that a new survey showed...
Nannies deserve the same rebate status as 'approved' child care, according to a new survey
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 10, 2012A NEW survey of Australian parents has found the vast majority think registered nannies deserve the same rebate status as "approved" child care. The seventh independent national Child Care And Workforce Participation Survey undertaken by CareforKids.com.au has revealed...
Mums can be economic assets - Abbott
The Australian - April 10, 2012OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott said tax subsidies for nannies will allow more Australian women to be economic assets as well as social assets to the country. The Federal Government has dismissed the idea as welfare for the rich. But Mr Abbott is keen to pursue the issue...
Union boss backs nanny subsidies
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 10, 2012THE head of the nation's biggest union has called on Labor to subsidise nannies for families who want childcare in their own homes, arguing that the current system discriminates against them. Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Joe de Bruyn...
Nurses union aligns with Abbott on childcare push
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 9, 2012THE head of one of the nation's biggest female-dominated unions, the Australian Nurses Federation, has backed a call for the government to explore more childcare options to help parents who do shift work, including the option of nannies. ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas said…
