Few women can walk over equal pay: Labor's promise to elevate pay gap as 'matter of priority' is welcome
Women's Agenda - Angela Priestley - October 20, 2017
It gave its first "equal pay order" in 2012, following an application from the community services sector that was years in the making. A similar case involving childcare workers has already taken four years, demonstrating just how slow and complicated the system currently is....
Kids go to day care rather than relatives
SBS - October 19, 2017
Australian kids are increasingly attending day care instead of being looked after by relatives, a national report card has found. Nearly half (or 1.8 million) of Australian children aged between 0 and 12 attended formal or informal care in 2014. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has confirmed...
Victoria nears childhood herd immunity target
AJP.com.au - Megan Haggan - October 16, 2017
Victoria has hit a figure just shy of 95% of five year olds fully immunised, which the Andrews State Government says supports its vaccination policies. The Victorian Government has announced it is boosting its Immunity for Community campaign. Latest figures from the Australian...
Unknown strain of meningococcal claims the life of a child in Darwin, Northern Territory Health Department confirms
NT News - Craig Dunlop - October 16, 2017
A CHILD has died in Darwin after contracting an unknown strain of meningococcal disease. A health department spokeswoman confirmed the child, whose age and gender was not made public, was enrolled at a childcare centre in the greater Darwin area.Centre for Disease Control...
Avenues Early Learning centres on the block
Financial Review - Matthew Cranston - October 12, 2017
Avenues Early Learning is selling a portfolio of childcare centres in Brisbane that could fetch as much as $102 million and provide a crucial indicator for the demand and values of childcare centres in Australia. With pressure on operators from government funding and living costs the asset class is being...
Childcare cost blowout creating 'perfect storm'
My Business - Adam Zuchetti - October 12, 2017
Soaring childcare costs are damaging the ability of SMEs to grow, with some Australian parents spending more on childcare than their take-home earnings. "The perfect storm is brewing with more and more families facing the difficult decision of whether or not both parents can afford to work...
Paid parental leave: six months of paid leave opens up options for mums and dads
ABC News - Clare Negus - October 12, 2017
Australian employers are increasingly moving away from traditional maternity leave policies and instead offering six months of paid parental leave for the "primary carer". The gender-neutral policies are intended to create options for families - fathers can take time off work as the primary carer...
Is G8 Education Ltd still a dividend darling?
Motley Fool - Sean O'Neil - October 11, 2017
It's like a horse race – in the Blue we have up-and-comer G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) and in the Red we have ageing nag Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). Both are, or were, favourites among income seeking investors for their huge dividends, historically above 6% at recent share prices...
Are greedy developers and landlords gouging childcare parents?
ABC News - Lisa Bryant - October 11, 2017
Property developers and landlords are inflating the cost of childcare and condemning children to spending their childhoods in crappy environments. And worse? They're getting government support to do it. Increasingly, whacking up a childcare centre is looking like a good option...
City childcare operators hit back at claims of undersupply
The Chronicle - Matthew Newton - October 11, 2017
TOOWOOMBA childcare operators have hit back at claims of a large undersupply in the number of childcare places available in the city. Australian Childcare Solutions claimed in recent development application for a new childcare centre at 24A-28 James Street there was a shortfall...
Fears of hepatitis A infection at Brighton childcare centre
Brisbane Times - Melissa Cunningham - October 11, 2017
Families at a Brighton childcare centre face an anxious wait after a staff member contracted hepatitis A overseas and potentially passed the virus on to children. About 30 staff and up to 45 children at the Bambini Early Learning Centre in Brighton East have been deemed at risk of...
Project Sydney: Childcare, hospitals needed to cope with 1.2m people population boom
News.com.au - Matthew Benns & Natasha Bita - October 9, 2017
Exclusive modelling reveals the "shopping list" of social services needed to meet demand - more than half of it in Western Sydney. Sydney will need 500 new childcare centres, 70 hospitals and 1750 GPs, according to the PwC research. "We are building to accommodate the population...
I live with my boss: What life is really like as a live-in nanny
Domain - Brigid Blackney - October 9, 2017
During her 14-year career as a nanny she's lived with five of the families she's worked for, resulting in a very different kind of working relationship than most people are used to. "It's only just occurred to me how few jobs there are where you see your boss in their Peter...
Deadly flu season should mean vaccines for all health workers
Sydney Morning Herald - Robert Booy and Sue Rodger-Withers - October 8, 2017
The Turnbull government has responded rapidly, announcing a push to mandate influenza vaccination among aged-care workers, a move strongly supported by peak groups, including National Seniors Australia and COTA Australia. And the case is compelling. But, logically...
NSW childcare centres burdened by regulations
The Macleay Argus - October 6, 2017
A new survey has found childcare centres across NSW are spending more time than ever on paperwork, compliance requirements and unnecessary red tape at the expense of educational outcomes of children. A survey of 1,700 childcare centres across the state found 62 per cent of staff...
Sleep and the restless preschooler: why policies need to change
The Conversation - Karen Thorpe, Sally Staton, Simon Smith & Susan Irvine - October 6, 2017
The legislated regulatory standards for sleep, rest and relaxation in early childhood education and care have changed this week. What are the changes and why have these been made? From October 1, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care requires...
Australian women earn 87 cents to every man's dollar: OECD report
Brisbane Times - Nassim Khadem - October 5, 2017
Australian children are less likely than children in many other OECD countries to participate in formal childcare or pre-school. This limits the extent to which Australian mothers engage in paid work, the report said. "While not as expensive as in some other English-speaking countries...
Predator jailed for luring children from North Perth daycare
Perth Now - Shannon Hampton October 4, 2017
A CHILD molester who snatched two children from a North Perth school holiday care program and sexually assaulted the pair before abandoning them in a park has been jailed for a decade over his "abhorrent" crimes. Promising the children treats and fun activities, Vincenzo Mule, 54, lured the...
New research found Perth childcare centres could be helping create racial discrimination
Perth Now - Bethany Hiatt - October 4, 2017
CHILDCARE centres could be helping create racial discrimination in children by failing to provide books with non-white characters, research suggests. Edith Cowan University researchers surveyed more than 2300 children's books in Perth daycare centres and found that just 5 per cent...
This orange looks good but I can't open it
News.com.au - Jackie Sinnerton - October 4, 2017
CHILDREN in child care are being taught how to open a clingwrapped sandwich, rip the top off a yoghurt and peel fruit as schools report pupils are skipping lunch as they struggle to open foods. Timber Tots Child Care in Brisbane's Camp Hill is rolling out classes for three- and...
Disadvantaged kids need more support - not less says Labor
South Coast Register - October 3, 2017
The implications for people who are particularly disadvantaged means those people may not be able to qualify for the family tax benefit which means get less access to long day care. "What kids from very disadvantaged backgrounds need is the access and not have the access...
NSW rotavirus outbreak worst in five years
News.com.au - Hannah Higgins - October 2, 2017
NSW is in the grip of a surge of a highly-contagious gastro virus after a spate of outbreaks in aged care and child care centres. Experts are investigating whether a mutant strain of the gastro-like rotavirus is responsible for a surge in NSW cases after outbreaks in aged care facilities...
Vaccination is compulsory in childcare but not in schools
The Courier Mail - Sue Dunlevy - September 30, 2017
ONE in three parents would be reluctant to enrol their children in a school where there were high numbers of unvaccinated children, an exclusive survey has revealed. Two State Governments, NSW and Victoria, will from next year ban childcare centres from enrolling unvaccinated...
Supercharged vaccines being considered to combat deadly flu
Financial Review - Jill Margo - September 29, 2017
Australian health authorities are considering licensing new products capable of boosting the strength of the flu vaccine as they race against time to ensure that next year's vaccine is more effective than the suboptimal one used this year. And the Federal Department of Health, which was exploring...
Melbourne households paying $312 more for electricity than in 2010: ABS study
Herald Sun - Kieran Rooney - September 29, 2017
"In the six years since the last survey, the biggest increases in spending on goods and services by households have been in education (44 per cent), household services and operation, including childcare services (up by 30 per cent), energy and health care (both up by 26 per cent),"...
The assets at risk of being too popular
The Courier-Mail - Chris Herde - September 29, 2017
DEMAND for freehold childcare centres is at an all time high but with an unprecedented wave of new centres planned there are expectations the market will soften. Australian Childcare Brokers co-owner Andrew Kelly, who has sold about 15 freehold centres this year and about 30 businesses...
How to find a good babysitter and pay them the right rate
ABC News - Amanda Hoh - September 29, 2017
Casual or ad-hoc babysitters are considered independent contractors who enter into a contract with the hiring parents, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman. As they are not considered employees, babysitters don't have a minimum wage or pay rate and so have to negotiate payment...
Daycare staff spend hours on politically correct paperwork
The Daily Telegraph - Natasha Bita - September 28, 2017
BABIES and toddlers are being monitored for environmental awareness and "non-verbal Âinteraction" as daycare staff drown in PC paperwork. Childcare staff are spending hours writing "reflective journals", creating "mind maps" and keeping "running records" for every child in care...
Merger plans for outside school care groups dropped
The Australian - Bridget Carter - September 27, 2017
Bain Capital's Camp Australia and Advent Private Equity's Junior Adventures Group have abandoned merger plans. It comes after concerns about the deal from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about a loss of competition between the pair - two largest commercial...
No competition with Singapore students
The Australian - Stefanie Balogh - September 27, 2017
Success is about giving children a strong start, but "Australia still has some way to catch up". "High quality early childhood education and care can have a major impact on children's cognitive abilities as well as on their socio-emotional development and it can improve social mobility...
