Child Care News
Childcare laws must 'apply to nannies'
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas and Joe Kelly - March 30, 2012PARENTS who employ nannies should come under the same level of scrutiny, regulation and tough financial penalties experienced by childcare centre providers, according to Australian Childcare Alliance president Gwynn Bridge, who is fighting a push to provide government assistance for in-home carers...
Dollars and sense of nannies
The Australian - Stephen Lunn - March 31, 2012IF and when the Productivity Commission takes a look at the complex issue of whether parents should be able to claim half the cost of their nannies under the childcare tax rebate system, they will do what has been largely missing in the emotion of the debate this week: examine the economic benefits of the idea…
Nanny state trying to shut down debate on debate
The Australian Peter van Onselen - March 31, 2012THE strongest objection to Tony Abbott's idea that the Productivity Commission take a look at rebates for nannies - and that is all the Opposition Leader is calling for - seems to be that it is Abbott who made the suggestion. The ferocity and speed with which the government has condemned the idea…
Nanny rebate $500m cost
The Age - Lenore Taylor - March 31, 2012TONY ABBOTT'S plan to extend the childcare rebate to include nannies would cost about $500 million a year, according to calculations by the federal bureaucracy. The Coalition leader sparked a national debate when he promised that, if elected, he would ask the Productivity Commission...
Many obstacles on the road to nanny nirvana
Sydney Morning Herald - Lenore Taylor - March 31, 2012It asks how childcare can be made more flexible to fit in with family's work, and - just as importantly - how businesses can make working arrangements more flexible to fit in with the fact that their workers also have responsibilities to their families...
Kirner calls for the rich to fend for themselves on childcare
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas and Stephen Lunn - March 31, 2012FORMER Victorian Labor premier Joan Kirner has called for all childcare payments, including the rebate, to be means-tested so that the wealthy are not recipients of government funding. She said yesterday that while...
Push is on for nannies
Financial Review - Jacquie Hayes - March 31, 2012Bravo Tony. It's a terrific policy initiative and a clever way of helping more women back into the workforce. But it's not enough. Two other things would need to be addressed simultaneously to make it work. First, there's the issue of numbers, or the lack of them in this case. And second, there's the issue of quality control, or the general absence of it in Australia's nanny industry...
Childcare rebate safe: PM
The West Australian - Shane Wright - March 30, 2012Julia Gillard has killed off suggestions the Federal Budget will means test the childcare rebate. As Treasurer Wayne Swan declared welfare for people who did not need it was dispensable, the Prime Minister made it clear that this did not extend to the Government's generous childcare assistance...
Abbott's spoonful of sugar stirs the pot
Sydney Morning Herald - Jessica Irvine - March 30, 2012Policy discussion must begin to focus not just on the demand side - the ability of parents to pay - but the supply side too. Initiatives to better anticipate and match the supply of childcare places with local demand, along with investments in training to ensure an increased supply...
Good pre-school learning helps teenagers
SkyNews - March 29, 2012Pre-schoolers whose parents provide a stimulating home life are still reaping the benefits at the age of 14, research suggests. A study by the Institute of Education (IoE) has found that the quality of learning during a child's early years has a strong impact on achievement in high school...
PM refuses to speculate on cuts to childcare rebate
The Daily Telegraph - Alison McMeekin - March 29, 2012JULIA Gillard and her deputy Wayne Swan have refused to speculate on whether they will apply a means test to the 50 per cent childcare rebate. The Prime Minister this afternoon echoed the words of the Treasurer when she refused to rule out the cost-saving measure...
A nanny doesn't always know what's best for children
Sydney Morning Herald - Elizabeth Hill - March 29, 2012Australian research points to the positive impact that high quality centre-based care can offer children. In well resourced, properly regulated child-care centres staffed by decently paid and well trained teachers, children learn to socialise, develop respect and empathy for others...
Middle-class welfare in the firing line under new Budget
AdelaideNow - By Malcolm Farr - March 29, 2012A SENIOR minister today is challenging entitlement to middle class welfare as the Government prepares a Budget expected to means test more benefits to families. The comments helped turn the spotlight on the 50 per cent child care subsidies as a target for means testing in the coming Budget...
Childcare inquiry makes sense
The Australian - March 29, 2012Yet in response to a sensible proposal to investigate options for flexibility in childcare policies, the government's knee-jerk reaction has been to say no and attempt to play the politics of envy. This shows, at the very least, that the government is part of the problem...
Experts warn of problems subsidising nanny care
Sydney Morning Herald - Adele Horin - March 29, 2012The government had no means to regulate what happened when the home was someone's workplace. "International evidence shows nanny work can be highly exploitative and next to impossible to regulate," Dr Hill said. "This is not a matter of nanny care is for the wealthy, it's the bigger question of subsidising private solutions in private homes using untrained staff."
