An investigation by Four Corners has found that Little Zak's has the highest share of centres subject to enforcement action among Australia's 26 largest long daycare operators. Regulators recorded almost 600 confirmed breaches at its centres between 2020 and September 2025. Parents at its Shellharbour centre describe serious injuries and concerns about supervision. Little Zak's says its focus is on quality and safety. Federal Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh says new reforms are on track, though some large operators have not been included in a funding crackdown.
A childcare worker, Edwina Ling, has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to 80 counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm. The assaults took place at a childcare centre in Injinoo, on Cape York, over three days in late August and early September 2024. CCTV footage captured the attacks, and one 13-month-old boy was assaulted 55 times. The centre operated outside the National Quality Framework. Parents want accountability to extend to the organisation that ran the centre and to regulators.
Labor backbencher Charlotte Walker says the government will keep working on childcare reform, despite pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to deliver universal childcare. Albanese promised the policy as part of his legacy. The three day guarantee, introduced in January, gives more than 90,000 extra families access to three days of subsidised childcare a week. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said a universal system will take time. The Coalition, led by Angus Taylor, is developing its own childcare policy focused on greater choice, and is considering payments for grandparents who provide care.
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Heer Kaur, an Indian migrant in Beveridge, north of Melbourne, chose to have just one child after postponing parenthood to build a career and secure permanent residency. She says the lack of family support pushed up childcare costs and left her working longer hours. Treasury's Intergenerational Report puts Australia's fertility rate at a historic low of 1.48 births per woman, and it names delayed childbearing as a key driver. Demographers say migration will play a growing role in sustaining population growth and the workforce, though migrants often adopt local fertility patterns.
Georgie Dent, chief executive of the parent advocacy group The Parenthood, told the National Press Club that Australian parents need 814 more hours of care a year. The column describes working mothers who rise in the middle of the night to finish work, exercise or have quiet time before their families wake. The writer tried the routine, setting a 4 am alarm, and says it gave her an uninterrupted start to the day. She adds that women should not have to give up sleep to manage their lives.
Childcare chain Shared Beginnings has entered administration, with administrators now controlling its seven centres in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT. Owner Finexia Financial Group said the centres had been operating at a loss and that all other options had been exhausted. All centres remain open, and Finexia has committed to honouring staff entitlements. Administrators Bill Karageozis and Nick Keramos of DVT McLeods have been appointed to find suitable buyers. The collapse comes amid a wave of early childhood service closures across the sector.
Molong Early Learning Centre is urgently recruiting qualified educators to fill several vacancies, with more than 70 children on its waiting list. Service director Shanie Duncan said the not-for-profit centre is not at risk of closing, but ongoing staffing shortages could force it to reduce enrolments if mandatory educator-to-child ratios cannot be met. Ms Duncan said workforce shortages across the sector, along with travel distances and fuel costs in regional areas, have made recruitment harder. The centre, established in 1972, is Molong's only long day care facility and plans to introduce a trainee in the coming year.
Two children escaped from the Majura Early Childhood Centre in Dickson last Monday during rest time, by turning over play equipment and climbing a fence. Police were alerted by members of the public and the children were reunited with their parents about 2:30pm. The mother of one boy, Naomi Brooks, said she was frustrated by the lack of answers from the centre's provider, Northside Community Services. Northside has apologised, appointed an ex-AFP investigator and increased staffing, and says the investigation is ongoing. Ms Brooks has applied to withdraw her children from the centre.
A Lakelands husband-and-wife team has won a regional award at the 2026 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards. Kelvin and Jess Ware, of Ware Bears Family Day Care, were honoured for the Mandurah and Peel region. It was their second year in a row being nominated. The couple offer early learning, before and after-school care, and vacation care. Some families travel up to 30 minutes to use the service. The service is part of the Y WA Family Day Care program.
More than 10,000 extra children could enrol in NSW community preschools under new funding guidelines announced on Sunday, 18 October. The guidelines guarantee teachers and educators pay above award rates. The Universal Preschool Funding Program replaces the Start Strong program and will fund more than 700 community preschools. For the first time, places for 3-year-olds will be fully funded. Out-of-pocket fees for community preschools that charge them will be capped at $20 per day. Deputy Premier Prue Car said the reforms will help keep costs down for working families.
A building housing a childcare centre in Cambridge Park has sold for $4.075 million. The centre on Jordon Street is leased to Young Academics on a 15-year net lease running to 2040. The 39-place centre was completed in 2025 and sits on a 653-square-metre corner site. The property was bought by a Sydney-based private investor. Stonebridge, which handled the sale, says investors remain strongly interested in newly built childcare assets, with recent New South Wales sales recording yields of about five per cent or lower. Stonebridge also points to federal funding commitments exceeding $16 billion a year.
Several mothers say choosing larger families brings significant financial and career trade-offs. Dian Winata returned to work two weeks after her third child's caesarean birth because she was not eligible for government-funded parental leave. Lauren Treweek says motherhood has slowed her marketing career, a setback she calls part of the motherhood penalty. Sociologist Sandra Buchler says the penalty can mean slower career progression and lower retirement savings. Paula Gaziero, a stay-at-home mother of three sons, says caring for her children is a sacrifice she chose and sees it as a temporary season.
Manilla Early Learning, the only childcare centre in the northern New South Wales town of Manilla, says its annual fee to the state regulator has jumped from $482 to $2737. Director Sara Turner said the increase was 468 per cent and the centre could not easily afford it. She said the centre had not been notified of the rise and questioned what the money would be used for. The NSW Early Learning regulator said the increase was necessary to fund stronger oversight of the sector.
Police picked up two five-year-old children who left the Majura Early Childhood Centre in Dickson, Canberra, without adult supervision. A passer-by spotted the boys near Dickson College and alerted police on Monday afternoon. Police found the boys and reunited them with their parents. ACT Policing said the boys were not injured or harmed. Northside Community Service, which runs the centre, has appointed an external investigator to find out how the incident happened and recommend safety improvements.
Edge Early Learning will close its last Canberra childcare centre, Ngunnawal, on Wednesday 14 October. Administrators said they found no viable offers to buy the centre, and families received only two days' notice by late-night email. The Ngunnawal closure is one of 11 Edge centres across Australia that will shut. Administrators said Goodstart Early Learning has agreed to acquire 31 centres, while 22 others are subject to offers from six buyers. Families who paid fees in advance will receive refunds by the end of October.
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Two five-year-old boys escaped from the Majura Early Childhood Centre in Dickson, Canberra, and were found by ACT Policing after members of the public saw them outside. Police returned both boys safely to their families. Northside Community Service, which runs the centre, has apologised and reported the incident to the ACT childcare regulator. It has also appointed an independent external investigator. ACT Child Development Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith called the incident extremely concerning and said her office will monitor the investigation.
Eleven Edge Early Learning childcare centres in Queensland, South Australia and the ACT have been ordered to close within 48 hours. The centres could not be sold after the group entered voluntary administration in August. Many families had little notice and are now scrambling to find alternative childcare. Administrators at KordaMentha say families are being contacted in writing and given details of nearby services with spare places. Goodstart Early Learning has acquired 31 other centres in the sale process.
Eleven childcare centres run by collapsed operator Edge Early Learning will close, after administrators could not find buyers for them. Administrators KordaMentha found offers for 53 centres in Queensland and South Australia, including 31 proposed for GoodStart Early Learning. Seven closing centres are in Queensland, three in South Australia and one in the ACT. Some parents learned of the closures only days before they take effect, on October 14. Families who prepaid fees will be refunded by the end of October, and parents have been told of nearby centres with some vacancies.
Former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith will be extradited from Queensland to New South Wales to face more than 200 additional charges. The charges include sexual intercourse with children under 10 and producing child abuse material. Griffith was sentenced to life imprisonment in Queensland last year, with a non-parole period of 27 years. He pleaded guilty in 2024 to more than 300 offences against 69 girls. His bid to reduce the Queensland non-parole period was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in June. NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley confirmed the transfer.
