Tag: childcare
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The woman who exposed the childcare industry
Some childcare centres in Australia are so understaffed that children are left alone for hours. Others spend less than a dollar a day on feeding them. Yet the industry receives billions in public subsidies and dodgy centres are allowed to keep operating even after serious breaches. What’s emerging is a picture of a broken childcare…
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How profit beats safety in childcare
When Joshua Brown was arrested for allegedly abusing children at childcare centres across Melbourne, it exposed a horrifying reality – patchwork regulation and an understaffed, profit-driven industry is failing children. Months on, as state and federal governments try to deal with the fallout – and as the Albanese government pumps record investment into the early…
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Outback town trains locals in childcare to solve staffing shortage
The Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project is funded by BHP and provided by Uni Hub Spencer Gulf in collaboration with Central Queensland University. As part of the national Regional University Study Hubs program, Uni Hub Spencer Gulf assists students in rural or remote communities like those in Roxby Downs to access higher education without having…
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Childcare worker charged with 1623 counts of child abuse
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said on Tuesday the offences include 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 that were allegedly committed in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas between 2007 and 2022. The offences took place at childcare centres. All parents of impacted children have been…
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No buses, no cars: Families’ daily struggle to access SA preschools
Concerns are particularly focused on Adelaide’s northern suburbs rated as having the least “walkability” in the state, with one local advocate saying “there has been a long history now of our children being behind in their development rates than other kids across the state”. Commissioner for children and young people Helen Connolly backed the concerns,…
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Surge in new childcare centres ‘overtaking SA birth rate’
Australian Childcare Alliance (SA) president Kerry Mahony said there had been a surge in new childcare centres built over the past four years “and I’d be surprised if there are not 15 to 20 being built in Adelaide at the moment” without any analysis of whether they are needed. “One of our members in the…
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Budget boost for cheaper childcare
The Albanese government will commit $55.31 billion across the next four years in this month’s budget to make childcare more affordable from July. The signature election pledge will benefit about 1.2 million families nationwide, with more than 400,000 families in NSW, 302,100 in Victoria, and 284,100 in Queensland to receive a boost. Treasurer Jim Chalmers…
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Cheaper childcare on way after law change
But Education Minister Jason Clare says it’s “just the start” of the government’s commitment to improving outcomes for Australian children. The new childcare law passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday after the Senate agreed to amendments on Tuesday night. It delivers on the Labor government’s election promise to help families with the cost of living…
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Cheaper childcare for Indigenous families
The Albanese government will this week introduce the measure to boost the number of Indigenous children in childcare by upping subsidised care from 24 hours a fortnight. The government says only 4.3 per cent of children in early education identify as Indigenous despite First Nations children aged five and younger making up more than six…
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Competition commission called in to investigate soaring child care costs
The government will put aside almost $11 million in the budget for a 12-month Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into the sector after childcare costs jumped 41 per cent in eight years. The investigation, to begin in January, will examine factors driving rising childcare costs and out-of-pocket expenses and recommend ways to ease financial…