1. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced an inquiry into the Australian childcare system. Concerned about the relevancy of the current childcare system to modern families, the Coalition says it wants to produce a more ‘flexible, affordable and accessible’ childcare sector.
“Our childcare system should be responsive to the needs of today’s families and today’s economy, not the five-day, 9am-5pm working week of last century,” Mr. Abbott said this morning. This will be the first examination into the child care system since the 1990s.
2. The annual ‘schoolies week’ on the Gold Coast has kicked off, with 9 teenagers arrested last night for alcohol and public nuisance offences. Arrest figures are currently lower than last years’ – however, there are still three weeks left of the post-school celebrations.
3. The Opposition has questioned Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s decision to retire two navy boats to Sri Lanka. Senator Penny Wong questioned why the government informed the media of this story but continued to not release information on boat arrivals. Speaking this morning on Channel 10’s ‘Meet the Press’ Senator Wong questioned the motives of the government, saying “This is a government that just doles out the information it wants to dole out … but refuses to front up to the parliament and tell Australians what’s occurring”.