The use of au pairs, traditionally more common in Europe than Australia, has dramatically increased in popularity in Australia over the past few years. This is in part due to the increase in costs of childcare as well as a ...

On Saturday 1 July 2017, Victoria became the first state in Australia to provide an additional level of protection to children by implementing the Wrongs Amendment (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2017. The amendments apply duty of care requirements to all ...

The Queen’s Birthday Honours list is a chance to give recognition to those whose work doesn’t often bring them into the limelight. Gwynn Bridge is one such individual.  Recently appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to ...

In 2015, worldwide coverage was generated when it was announced that recruitment was underway for a professor of Lego. This was the scene-stealing headline but the grant of £4 million (AU $6.8 million) given to the University of Cambridge by ...

After 18 months of flip-flopping, the government’s changes to childcare funding have finally passed the senate with the support of One Nation, the Nick Xenophon Team and independents Cory Bernardi, David Leyonhjelm and Derryn Hinch. The bill’s changes, which comprise ...

For far-reaching International Women’s Day, a chat between an early childhood leader, an anti-poverty spokeswoman and a gender equality researcher fittingly included a spectrum of gendered concerns. Sam Page, chief executive of Early Childhood Australia, Cassandra Goldie, chief executive of the ...

Last year, he palmed off responsibility for sanitising the family daycare sector to states and territories. But now, education minster Simon Birmingham has brought his own wet wipes. This week, he released new measures that aim to save the government ...

As childcare rebates run dry – more than 100,000 households are expected to reach their annual limit by June 2017 – families are increasingly turning to cheaper au pairs for childcare. Nicole Kofkin, chief executive of au pair agency Smart ...