Date Time
Assessing Childcare Affordability in Australia
Childcare is currently unaffordable for 386,000 Australian families or 39% of families who use childcare, a new report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute shows.
The Federal Government’s $1.7 billion changes to the childcare subsidy, which are due to take effect in July next year, will still leave childcare unaffordable for 336,000 (34%) of Australian families who use the childcare system.
It found that one in three families are spending more on childcare than groceries to feed their family and 85% of families are spending more on childcare than on their utility bills.
The report uses an international benchmark of no more than 7% of disposable income spent on childcare to determine childcare affordability for families.
Nearly 40% of Australian families can t afford childcare theconversation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theconversation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Victoria puts faith in hotels as âloopholeâ route from India reopens
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The Victorian government says its hotel quarantine program is ready to receive travellers returning from coronavirus-ravaged India as the first chartered repatriation flight prepares to land in Darwin on Saturday.
About 900 Australians in India who have been identified as vulnerable will be prioritised for the repatriation flights with one flight leaving every seven to nine days until the end of June, as agreed at national cabinet last week.
The first repatriation flight was due to return from New Delhi, India to Australia on Saturday.
(Photo by Rolf Schulten/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
NSW says it will begin accepting international students within months with a program that excludes the Federal Government and will likely be paid for by the university sector.
The proposal has been accepted by the NSW Premier and will allow students to quarantine in purpose-built housing in Sydney.
The NSW State Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said he supported the program and promised it would not take spaces away from Australians returning to the country.
International students have been approved to return to NSW as soon as August as part of a new plan pushed by the state’s university sector.