Child Care News
Melbourne kids in Saturday kinder classes
Herald Sun - Susie O'Brien - May 17, 2011MELBOURNE kids are being made to learn on weekends, with kinder classes now on Saturdays. Dozens of metropolitan kindergartens have started offering Saturday sessions, which are popular with time-poor working parents. However, other parents have resisted...
Underpaid female social workers win big pay rise
Sydney Morning Herald - Kelly Burke, Sean Nicholls - May 17, 2011More than 200000 non-government workers employed in sectors funded by federal and state governments - including childcare, job recruitment, aged and disability services and aid agencies - will be affected by the decision, hailed by unions as a historic...
Fines over child care health risk
The Sunday Telegraph - Helen Pow - May 15, 2011THREE childcare centres have been fined for failing hygiene guidelines, putting young children at serious risk of infection. A rodent-infested Baulkham Hills centre was fined $660 after NSW Food Authority inspectors found "droppings...
I e-spy something beginning with see
The Daily Telegraph - Tim Vollmer - May 14, 2011Eight Universal Childcare centres are test-running video conferencing in an Australian first, providing working parents with a window into what their children are doing during the day. Universal plans to expand it to a dozen more centres in coming...
Tax break or welfare? Either way, middle-class families are the losers
The Australian - Angela Shanahan - May 14, 2011So in the budget, the government did not means test one tax break, the childcare tax rebate for families with two incomes, but it cut or froze other payments to families on one income who often include mothers who do not use paid child care...
Family day carers face fine for poor supervision
Sydney Morning Herald - Natasha Wallace - May 13, 2011NEW childcare safety laws would allow authorities to prosecute family day carers for the first time with fines of up to $10,000 for inadequate supervision. The Department of Community Services has been unable to prosecute individual family day carers...
Earn $150k and you're out
The Australian - Stephen Lunn - May 11, 2011The Treasurer has moved to extend the freeze in the indexation of income limits on family payments including Family Tax Benefits A and B, the Baby Bonus and Paid Parental Leave until 2014, which will save more than $1 billion over the next four years...
Sanity prevails as mental health care dominates
The Daily Telegraph - Gemma Jones - May 11, 2011Children as young as three will now undergo testing for social and emotional wellbeing and childcare workers will be given mental health training. The Government also wants to stem the number of teens leaving school because of mental illness...
Funding a better future for Australia’s children
DEEWR Media Release - May 11, 2011The Recognition of Prior Learning package will provide early childhood workers with greater access to upgrading their qualifications through a national assessment process. The measure will be of greatest benefit to child care professionals in rural...
Parental backlash fear on costs
Herald Sun - Elissa Doherty - May 10, 2011A THIRD of parents would be forced to remove their children from care if costs increased, a survey says. The Australian Childcare Alliance released the warning on Budget eve amid concerns that childcare subsidies could be in the firing line...
Family day carer can't be sued for boy's death
Sydney Morning Herald - Natasha Wallace - May 9, 2011He was the second toddler to die in 2008 while in family day care in NSW, yet due to a significant legal loophole the person most responsible for his care cannot be prosecuted. The Department of Community Services is unable to prosecute individual...
Balancing work and family, especially when a baby is involved, is tough on job and on mums
The Sunday Mail - Carly Hennessy - May 08, 2011While women may feel guilty about putting their youngsters in childcare, the most important thing was it was quality centre. "For a child as well as for adults there's a balance, and we all need time away," Prof Thorpe said. "It's not about whether...
Shortfall of qualified staff threatens childcare
The Australian - Milanda Rout - May 7, 2011They say it is not possible to meet the federal government's reforms, which require all workers to have a Certificate 3 qualification by 2014 as well as increasing staff to child ratios, without further financial assistance. Childcare centres have already started passing on the cost...
Budget to crack down on charities loophole
The Age - Michelle Grattan - May 7, 2011Activities central to the purpose of the charitable organisation would still be untaxed, even when run commercially, such as non-profit hospitals and childcare centres. Businesses such as op shops, whose profits go back to the charities, will continue...
Fees cut to entice childcare centres to expand
ABC Online - May 6, 2011The ACT Government says private childcare centres will have an incentive to expand, under changes to development charges. The Government is phasing in a new system of change-of-use charges from July. Currently private childcare centres must pay a lease...
