Child Care News
Childcare, leave, housing: Where women won in Labor’s first budget
The Sydney Morning Herald - Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon - October 27, 2022In a policy already announced, from July next year, a higher income eligibility threshold of $530,000 will lift subsidy rates for 96 per cent of families using childcare. Under $80,000, the refund will be 90 per cent for a first child. The rates are also more generous for...
The cost of what the Budget doesn’t address will cost us all in the long run
The Sector - Dr Marg Rogers and Associate Professor Laura Doan - October 27, 2022The recent Federal Budget offers a solution to the cost of childcare for families, which will be a welcome relief for many families who are struggling with the cost of living. However, it does not deal with the elephant in the room, the lack of educators. Whilst some recent...
Cheaper childcare promise could be scuppered by staff shortages
Financial Review - Euan Black - October 26, 2022Childcare workers will need pay rises if the sector is to attract enough staff to meet the surge in demand triggered by extra spending in Tuesday’s budget, economists say. The federal government will increase the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent for families...
Couples earning $350k to get parental leave benefits in ‘family-friendly’ budget
The Sydney Morning Herald - Anthony Galloway - October 23, 2022Couples will be assessed on their combined income to be eligible for the Commonwealth’s paid parental leave scheme for the first time in what Treasurer Jim Chalmers promises to be a “family-friendly” budget on Tuesday. The move, to be announced on Sunday, will form...
Government to use boosted paid parental leave to entice fathers to do more caring
The Sydney Morning Herald - David Crowe - October 20, 2022New fathers will be given incentives to shoulder more of the work in raising young children under a federal bid to use a $600-million boost to paid parental leave to force a change in culture to keep mothers in the workforce. A federal taskforce will push for a “use it or lose it”...
New Educational Leader wage allowance – How does it work?
The Sector - Freya Lucas - October 20, 2022With the recent announcement made by the Fair Work Commission that the Children’s Services Award would include a new educational leader allowance many early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals have had questions about how the allowance will be paid...
Period of emergency declared for ECEC sector in parts of Victoria, NSW and Tasmania
The Sector - Freya Lucas - October 20, 2022Following heavy rainfall and flooding, the Federal Department of Education (DET) has declared a period of emergency for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector in parts of Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. This means that early learning service providers...
Landmark childcare reforms become law
NSW Government - October 18, 2022Families across NSW will be able to access cheaper, high quality childcare after the legislation underpinning the Government’s landmark women’s economic opportunity reforms passed Parliament. The NSW Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund Act 2022 will drive...
NSW Government addresses key questions on Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund
The Sector - Jason Roberts - October 17, 2022As the New South Wales Government progresses the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund Bill 2022 through its legislative assembly additional details on how the fund is expected to be governed has been provided by the NSW Department of Education. Governance is...
Andrews government announces $31m plan to upgrade kindergartens across Victoria
Herald Sun - Laura Placella - October 14, 2022An almost $4m expansion of a kindergarten in Melbourne’s south east is among hundreds of early learning centres that will be upgraded by the state government. Scammell Child and Family Hub in Oakleigh South is set to receive $3.7m to create an additional 66 places...
Horrible problem being faced by parents across the country
The Courier Mail - Brooke Rolfe - October 11, 2022Working parents across the country are enduring an unprecedented childcare catastrophe, with many struggling with eleventh hour communication of centres being full. Extreme shortages of childcare staff – one of many devastating side effects of the Covid pandemic...
As frustrated parents give up on work over lack of regional childcare services, calls are growing for a rural model
ABC News - Shannon Schubert and Jonathon Kendall - October 5, 2022As a mother living on a farm between Boort and Wycheproof in northern Victoria, Amy Fay has a one-hour round trip to the closest childcare centre in Wycheproof. In the Loddon Shire, there are no childcare centres. Ms Fay and her husband moved to the region for work, where...
Have your say on NSW landmark ECEC reforms
The Sector - Freya Lucas - October 4, 2022The New South Wales Government is seeking feedback from the early childhood education and care (ECEC) community in relation to its landmark reforms which will see big changes to early learning and the introduction of a universal pre-Kindergarten year...
Unpacking the new Family Assistance Legislation – What are the key elements and how will they impact ECEC providers?
The Sector - Jason Roberts - September 30, 2022On Wednesday the Federal Government introduced its Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022 to the House of Representatives with the aim of enshrining into law the pre-election commitments outlined in Labor’s Plan for Cheaper Child Care...
’Burnt out’ childcare workers say centres are being forced to shut down and turn children away
The Daily Telegraph - Angira Bharadwaj - September 29, 2022Childcare workers are leaving the industry in droves with red tape and strict rules forcing centres to shut up shop or care for fewer children, the sector’s peak body has claimed. The Australian Childcare Alliance has written to Premier Dominic Perrottet calling for an urgent “intervention”...
