Child Care News

Preschools fee rise to hurt families
The Sunday Telegraph - Laura Speranza - October 23, 2011

PRINCIPALS of the state's 100 public preschools predict a mass exodus of children next year due to government plans to increase fees by up to $40 a day. They fear thousands of kids from some of the most disadvantaged suburbs will be removed because...

Playing by the rules makes prisoners of children
The Australian - Cassandra Wilkinson - October 22, 2011

While the Australian standard for playground equipment is not mandatory, it has become de facto compulsory because compliance can be referred to in court action against childcare centres, schools, restaurants and local councils...

Bubble-wrap kids brought back to earth
Herald Sun - Elissa Doherty - October 20, 2011

NATURE is being brought back to children's lives as childcare centres revolt against sanitised play areas and bubble-wrap parents. A generation of over-protective parents are so worried about their children getting dirty, tripping on pebbles or falling out of trees...

An exodus creates a crisis in childcare centres
ABC Online - Louise Merrillees - October 19, 2011

Taking out the rubbish, cleaning floors, painting walls - it's all in a day's work for a childcare worker. Soon, they will also all be required to have qualifications. It's probably not surprising that good childcare workers are leaving the industry in droves...

Agencies 'failed' bashed toddler
The Australian - Pia Akerman - October 20, 2011

A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl who died after being bashed in her family home was let down by childcare staff and police, who knew she had suffered injuries in the weeks before the fatal attack. Victorian Coroner John Olle yesterday called for changes in the...

Claims childcare reforms will lead to higher fees and fewer places
Geelong Advertiser - Mandy Squires - October 19th, 2011

PLANNED childcare reforms will lead to even fewer vacancies at local daycare centres and significantly higher costs for parents, an industry chief warned yesterday. Geelong-based vice-president of the Australian Childcare Alliance and president of the Australian Childcare Alliance...

Poor-quality childcare centres to close under new rating plan
The Australian - Natasha Bita - October 17, 2011

SUBSTANDARD childcare centres will be shut down or stripped of taxpayer support under a new rating and inspection regime to start next year. From July, all daycare centres will be given a "quality rating" for the first time, so parents can see how...

Childcare still a tie that binds
Sydney Morning Herald - Hannah Vickers - October 17, 2011

FOR women in business, there are still real obstacles standing in their way as they climb the corporate ladder - and childcare can pose one of the toughest. That was a common refrain at the second annual Property Council of Australia Women in Business...

Daycare naughty corner OK again
The Australian - Natasha Bita - October 15, 2011

EDUCATION ministers have ditched plans to ban "time out" for toddlers' tantrums, under the first national rules for childcare. Childcare operators yesterday demanded more time to implement the reforms, detailed in a 341-page document endorsed by the nation's education ministers...

Australia takes the next big step towards a national system for education and care services
DEEWR Media Release - October 14, 2011

Minister for Child Care, Kate Ellis today welcomed the agreement of all State and Territory Governments to Australia's first truly national regulatory system for early childhood education and care services...

Free childcare for all Australians
SmartCompany - Naomi Simson - October 14, 2011

As we were chatting I offered that making childcare – including qualified in-home childcare – tax deductible could be an advantage to keeping more women in the workforce. This idea was recently tabled at the Tax Forum by a group called Chief Executive...

Two kids assaulted in child care - reports
NEWS.com.au - October 13, 2011

POLICE are investigating reports that two children have been indecently assaulted while they were in child care in Sydney's south. NSW Police were told the children, aged seven and eight, were in child care organised by a community organisation...

Govt attacked over empty childcare centre
NTNews.com.au - Alyssa Betts - October 13, 2011

THE Government has come under fire over a new childcare centre in Palmerston that's been sitting empty for a year. It comes as parents discovered on Wednesday that a Gray childcare centre - run by Mission Australia - would close in December...

Study looks at great childcare dilemma
Herald Sun - Lucie van den Berg - October 11, 2011

STAY-AT-HOME mums and dads are a little happier and less stressed than parents who choose to put their children in care. But a study looking at the psychological health of Australian parents found that those who care exclusively for their kids had more financial stress...

Childcare costs set to soar as parents could be stung for an extra $110 a week for long day childcare
The Daily Telegraph - Simon Benson - October 10, 2011

An industry report into the cost of the federal government's reforms has revealed the average cost of the fee rises is expected to be $13 to $22 a day. This comes on top of an average $10-a-day rise in NSW already this year because of the...