Child Care News
Steps government must take to give women more freedom
Sydney Morning Herald - Jessica Irvine - May 20, 2021It’s a thorny public policy area indeed, and one long overdue for a detailed and comprehensive review. Suggestions for universal childcare, flat-rate family tax payments and a 26-week paid parental leave scheme (shared equally between parents) are all worth modelling and integrating...
Canberra has Australia's highest childcare fees - and they are rising
The Canberra Times - Karen Barlow - May 19, 2021The rising cost of childcare in Australia continues to outstrip any increases to the government-provided subsidy, with the ACT stubbornly again recording a rise in fees to maintain the unfortunate record of the highest childcare fees in the nation. This is despite the COVID-19 related freeze...
G8 Education: Pandemic threatened sector viability, momentum is back
The Australian - David Ross - May 19, 2021Childcare operator G8 Education says bookings across its network are almost back to pre-COVID levels, although some of its CBD operations remain sluggish given office workers are still working from home. The comments, made at G8 Education’s annual meeting, follow a brutal year...
Marrickville Out Of Hours School Care probed by department
The Daily Telegraph - Anton Rose - May 18, 2021A second council-run childcare centre in Sydney’s inner west is being investigated by the Department of Education over another alleged security bungle which saw a child reportedly taken home by an unauthorised person. Marrickville West Out Of School Care, run by Inner West Council...
Expert advice on establishing caring workplaces that support educator wellbeing
The Sector - Freya Lucas - May 18, 2021Dr Madeleine Dobson from Curtin University recently spoke with the New South Wales Department of Education, giving suggestions on how to set educators up for success by creating caring workplace environments to support educator wellbeing. There are many challenges ...
HomeCo bulks up healthcare portfolio ahead of float
The Australian Financial Review - Larry Schlesinger - May 17, 2021Home Consortium has lifted the value of its healthcare portfolio to almost $500 million after striking deals to acquire a medical centre in Moreton Bay and two childcare centres in Brisbane and Sydney. In Woolloongabba, in inner Brisbane, HomeCo has acquired the Busy Bees ...
Ecco Ripley estate: New child care centre with capacity for 154 kids approved on Brooking Rise
The Courier Mail - Lachlan McIvor - May 17, 2021A NEW child care centre with capacity for 154 kids has been approved in a residential estate in the booming Ripley Valley and another could also be built next door. Ipswich City Council has given the green light to construct the two-storey facility in the Ecco Ripley estate ...
Historic Norwood mansion could be used for childcare centre for up to 90 children
The Advertiser - Ben Cameron - May 17, 2021A proposal to transform a historic 100-year-old mansion in Norwood that was “built to impress” into a childcare centre for up to 90 children has drawn the ire of nearly 30 local residents. Parolin Project Strategy has applied to Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council’s assessment...
Worker shortage has led to more childcare operators ignoring staff-to-child ratios
The Daily Telegraph - James Campbell - May 16, 2021The proportion of childcare operators being given a pass by authorities to ignore staffing rules designed to protect children has almost doubled across Australia since 2018. The growing workforce shortages come as data released last month by the Australian Children’s Education ...
HomeCo acquires $133.2m worth of health and childcare properties
Business News Australia - Matt Ogg - May 17, 2021HomeCo has completed the $13 million acquisition of a childcare centre leased to Busy Bees in the Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba, and recently exchanged contracts for a $10.2 million childcare centre in the inner western Sydney suburb of Five Dock which is currently leased...
Families short-changed over childcare subsidies
Herald Sun - Tom Minear - May 16, 2021Victorian families have been cut off from taxpayer-funded childcare support because their subsidies were used up during last year’s lockdown — when their kids had to stay home. The federal government is now investigating its bungle as parents and the opposition demand urgent action ...
Tas childcare options at breaking point, subsidy change threatens boil-over
The Examiner - Brinley Duggan - May 15, 2021North and North-West families and carers most impacted by the federal government's childcare subsidy have queried whether it will aid the childcare system in the region...
Finally, an ongoing commitment to funding preschool. But the conditions are hazy and ill-defined
The Conversation - Lennie Barblett, Edith Cowan University - May 14, 2021he 2021-22 budget includes funding for 15 hours per week of free preschool education for all children in the year before school. Although in his budget speech, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said there would be $2 billion for preschools, the budget papers specify: the government will ...
Victoria’s ECTs off to a good start thanks to newly announced support measures
The Sector - Freya Lucas - May 14, 2021Early childhood teachers (ECTs) in Victoria will be given a range of professional development opportunities to ensure their careers “get off to the best possible start,” Education Minister Ingrid Stitt announced yesterday. “Early childhood teachers have incredibly valuable jobs ...
What the budget (and budget reply) tells us about where the major parties stand on issues important to you
ABC News - Jade Macmillan - May 14, 2021Childcare Labor: Childcare was the focus of last year's budget reply speech, with Mr Albanese outlining a $6.2 billion proposal to deliver cheaper childcare to "virtually every family". Under Labor's policy, the childcare subsidy cap would be scrapped and subsidy rates would be boosted...
