Child Care News
Call for childcare industry shakeup
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 03, 2009CHILDCARE benefits for parents should be abolished and the money given instead to centres with the highest standards, the nation's commissioners for children have said in an attack on profit-driven daycare operations...
Tough new child-care ratios on the table
The Age - Dan Harrison - February 3, 2009CHILD-CARE centres would be required to have a staff member for every three babies, under tough new quality standards being considered by the Rudd Government...
Rudd child care ratings promise put on ice
The Age - Dan Harrison - February 2, 2009THE Rudd Government's election promise to rate child-care centres from A to E appears in doubt after its expert advisory panel warned such a scheme could...
High rents blamed for ABC's end
The Australian - Natasha Bita - February 02, 2009SKY-HIGH rents may have contributed to the demise of ABC Learning, as one of the bidders for part of the failed giant childcare chain has revealed that...
More schools rely on private carers
The Age - Annie Lawson , February 1, 2009The increase in commercial operators managing before and after-school care in Victorian primary schools ignites fears that pupils are forced into 'one-size-fits-all' programs...
ASIC in probe of childcare suppliers
The Australian - Natasha Bita - January 31, 2009COMPANIES watchdog ASIC is examining the contracts of suppliers to collapsed childcare chain ABC Learning. ABC Learning's receiver, McGrathNicol partner...
Holding him back can do just that
Brisbane Times - Miranda Devine - January 31, 2009Every fad has its use-by date, and it seems the middle-class phenomenon of holding children back from starting school may be on the wane. As the latest batch of kindy...
Con Sciacca on $10000 a month from ABC Learning
The Australian - Natasha Bita - January 30, 2009FAILED childcare giant ABC Learning paid former Labor minister Con Sciacca $10000 a month to lobby the federal Government in the lead-up to its collapse...
Union seeks talks on child-care staff
The Canberra Times - Emily Sherlock - January 29, 2009The child-care workers' union has asked to meet the ACT Government urgently after parents had to collect their children from the ABC in Garran this week because it lacked staff...
Former childcare minister Larry Anthony lobbied for ABC Learning
The Australian - Natasha Bita - January 29, 2009FAILED childcare chain ABC Learning paid one of its directors, former childcare minister Larry Anthony, more than $235000 to lobby governments on its behalf...
Confidence ABC key
Melbourne Herald Sun - Liam Walsh - January 28, 2009RECEIVERS controlling the bulk of ABC Learning centres are pitching a "don't worry" message to parents and staff, saying they have reined in a business bent on "out-of-control expansion"...
Baby locked inside childcare centre
Northern Territory News - January 28th, 2009A WOMAN was forced to throw a rock through the window of a Darwin childcare centre after her eight-month-old baby was locked inside. Police said the woman went to the childcare...
Receivers to sell off 720 of ABC's finest
Australian Financial Review - Nabila Ahmed - January 28, 2009Receivers for collapsed child-care empire ABC Learning Centres are preparing to launch a sale process for the company's 720 profitable centres in about two months, with the future of the business expected to be decided in the second half of the year...
Families stranded by ABC walkout
The Canberra Times - Louis Andrews and Natasha Rudra - January 28, 2009It is understood at least five child-care workers walked away from the Garran centre last week, leaving it unable to meet the required child-to-staff ratio...
Foreigners show interest in ABC Learning centres
Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - January 25, 2009CANADIANS, Singaporeans and Britons are among bidders for 241 ''unviable'' ABC Learning childcare centres put up for sale by PPB. PPB, which runs the sales...
