Child Care News
Childcare centres reject government obesity plan
Adelaidenow - Miles Kemp - May 14, 2009MORE than half of the state's childcare centres have shunned a Health Department obesity-fighting initiative, complaining the restrictions are too difficult...
Free care for abused kids
Herald Sun - Georgie Pilcher - May 13, 2009CHILDCARE payments have been saved from the Budget razor and the Government will provide free child care for children at risk of serious abuse and neglect...
Family payments tightened in welfare crackdown
Sydney Morning Herald - Misha Schubert - May 13, 2009But the same households will still be able to claim a generous rebate on child care after the cabinet ruled out means-testing the 50 per cent child care tax rebate...
Budget at a glance
Sydney Morning Herald - May 13, 2009Families will be able to access via the internet in 2009-10 a "child care estimator" to help them make decisions about child care, including out-of-pocket costs...
Working mothers win the jackpot
The Age - Phillip Coorey and Stephanie Peatling - May 11, 2009THE budget tomorrow will aim to encourage women to stay in the workforce by promising them paid maternity leave and sparing the child-care rebate from Wayne Swan's axe...
18 weeks paid maternity leave
Sydney Morning Herald - Josh Gordon - May 10, 2009The Federal government has committed to paid parental leave from January 2011 for those earning less that $150,000 a year, federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says...
Means-testing is painful but fair
The Age - May 10, 2009But it is also expected to take away - by reducing access to the baby bonus, family tax benefits and the child-care rebate, and reducing the amount...
BHP Billiton unveils nation's most generous paid maternity leave
Herald Sun - Felicity Williams and Sarah Martin - May 09, 2009From July 1, BHP staff will be able to take 18 weeks off work on full pay to look after their new arrivals. The leave applies to mums and dads who are the family's...
Childcare subsidies may be on the block
The Australian - Matthew Franklin - May 09, 2009WAYNE Swan's attack on middle-class welfare in next week's budget could extend to childcare amid an angry political backlash against his planned means tests...
Maternity leave shortfall warning: report
The Australian - Stephen Lunn - May 07, 2009UP to 40 per cent of working women will never have access to paid maternity leave without the federal Government committing to a publicly funded...
McKew spruiks child care affordability
Illawara Mercury - Alex Arnold - May 7, 2009Ms McKew said the biggest issue facing child care in Australia was how to address the huge staff turnover at child-care centres...
Stop another ABC Learning fiasco
Melbourne Herald Sun - May 6, 2009COMPETITION laws could be changed to prevent another ABC Learning scenario, where a big company buys smaller ones to entrench its market power...
Australia fails Save the Children's early childhood test
NEWS.com.au - May 05, 2009AUSTRALIA is falling behind most of the developed world in early childhood development, ranking third last of 25 in a new international report...
What to do with paid maternity leave
ABC Online - Jessica Brown - May 05, 2009Almost $20 billion of taxpayers' money goes towards payments such as Family Tax Benefit, Childcare Benefit and the Baby Bonus each year...
Tax cuts safe but childcare at risk
The Australian - Matthew Franklin - May 05, 2009...will not renege on promised tax cuts for middle and high-income earners but has left open the option of welshing on his promise not to means-test childcare subsidies...
