Child Care News
WA Regulatory authority issues reminder to all services after another child is left in a bus
The Sector - Freya Lucas - May 11, 2021A Department of Communities investigation recently found that a four-year-old child was found left alone unsupervised in a locked service vehicle, after being transported from school to the service premises, resulting in a breach of Section 165 (1) of the National Law for the ...
Childcare worker shortage could get worse with extra subsidies, union says
ABC New England - Patrick Bell and Kristy Reading - May 11, 2021There are fears an expected surge in demand for childcare places could exacerbate a worker shortage in the sector under changes proposed in the federal budget. The federal government is set to top up money for childcare subsidies by $1.7 billion with the goal of reducing costs ...
What's in the budget? Here are the key measures we already know about
ABC News - Gareth Hutchens - May 11, 2021Child care: Expanded childcare subsidies worth $1.7 billion. The government will add $1.7 billion, spread over three years, to the childcare spend (the annual childcare budget is $10.3 billion). However, the spending won't come into effect until July 2022. When it does kick in, it'll benefit families ...
Federal Budget 2021: Treasurer announces $1.7bn childcare package – but is it enough?
HRD AU - Jess Bell - May 11, 2021Campaigners are calling for this year’s Budget to include robust policies to bolster female participation within Australia’s workforce in an attempt to close the country’s gender gap. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has flagged changes to the childcare subsidy ahead of the Budget release...
Australian women are done waiting. It’s time for a budget that invests in care
The Guardian - Emma Dawson - May 10, 2021Despite months of advocacy from feminist economists and policy analysts, the government still does not grasp the opportunity of investing in women. The government made much fanfare about its childcare package in one of the typical pre-budget announcements last week, but many ...
Why a budget boost for child care is actually good for the economy
ABC News - Georgia Hitch - May 10, 2021Childcare subsidies are seen as one of the big ways governments can support greater gender equality, by helping women return to work when they want to. But the nature of the current system works as a disincentive for a lot of women as the cost outstrips how much they could earn ...
Childcare: When single parents are priced out, it starts a cycle of poverty
The Big Smoke - TBS Newsbot - May 10, 2021Female workforce participation has risen for the past two decades in Australia, and in turn, more young kids have been attending formal childcare. So it’s very surprising the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey shows a steep fall in the use of formal childcare...
Culture and Child Care
ABC Radio - On Speaking Out with Larissa Behrendt - May 10, 2021Keeping First Nations kids with their families and connected to communities are major factors in maintaining their overall health and well-being. Culturally appropriate early childhood education and care are at the heart of a new strategy currently being developed by the sector. Earlier this year...
Former Adelaide childcare worker Bronte Ciracovitch and ex-partner deny child exploitation material charges
ABC News - Claire Campbell - May 10, 2021A former childcare worker in Adelaide's northern suburbs — and his ex-partner — have been ordered to stand trial on child exploitation charges. Bronte Ciracovitch pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today to seven charges, including maintaining an unlawful sexual ...
Government must stop adding 'fiscal fuel to the fire' in childcare sector
Sky News - May 10, 2021Broadcaster Michael McLaren says the upcoming federal budget will simply "once again deliver a transfer of wealth" from the taxpayer, to the childcare operator, via the parents. "The issue of childcare is back on the agenda," Mr McLaren said. He spoke of the upcoming federal budget ...
MP’s stinging rebuke of his own party’s landmark package
The Courier Mail - Matthew Killoran - May 9, 2021Mums and dads should have more choice to stay at home and care for their child rather than be pushed to “have a stranger look after their newborn baby”, a maverick LNP Senator said in a stinging rebuke to his party’s $1.7 billion child care package. It is part of a growing pushback ...
Less flexible enrolment options on the cards for ACT Catholic preschools
Canberra Times - Andrew Brown - May 8, 2021Parents who send their children to ACT Catholic early learning centres will be faced with less flexible options for enrolments next year, in a move some fear could impact on working families. From 2022, the eight preschools operated by the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese will only offer ...
Applying a gender lens on the budget is not about pitting women against men
The Conversation - Leonora Risse, RMIT University - May 7, 2021Australia’s COVID recession hurt women more than men, and not only in job numbers. With schools and childcare centres closed, many women who remained in paid work had no choice but to take on more unpaid work, effectively working double shifts. Yet much of the government’s ...
Federal budget promises childcare reform, but what about the preschool years?
ABC News - Stephanie Borys and Gemma Breen - May 7, 2021When you think of scholarships, who usually comes to mind? Maybe it's a talented footy player being offered a spot at a private school, or a high school graduate who is given cash to study overseas at a prestigious university. For Emma, a scholarship meant she could ...
Plans for new retail centre, child care in Winmalee
Blue Mountains Gazette - Jennie Curtin - May 6, 2021A $5m redevelopment at Winmalee would see the old Target store demolished to make way for a new shopping/office space with a new child care centre also to be built. The child care centre, which is only doors away from the non-profit community-based Bunya Child Care Centre ...
