Parents ‘stockpiling' uniforms ahead of changes to school bonus program
Designed to ease the cost-of-living burden, the $275 million program gave families $400 for each child at a government school to be spent on uniforms, textbooks and school activities such as camps and excursions.
From Tuesday families will no longer be able to spend the money on uniforms and textbooks. The $84 million in unallocated funds is to be transferred to families' school activities accounts.
However, confusion about when the program's funds would expire led to a last-minute rush on uniform stores, with many parents thinking it was a 'use it or lose it' scheme that expired at the end of the month.
Parent Carly Brown-McErlain said while she found the process of accessing the funds straightforward, there was uncertainty among parents at her school about what would happen to the money they hadn't spent.
'It was framed that we would lose it as of June 30, so everybody started to spend it,' she said. 'It felt like, use it or lose it.'
Brown-McErlain's daughter Ayda is in year 1 at the local primary school. Brown-McErlain said that because her daughter's uniforms were largely secondhand, she decided to allocate $300 of her bonus to uniforms, including buying the school beanie and raincoat.
A mothers and children fitness instructor, Brown-McErlain said that with her four-year-old son, Albie, starting at the same school in 2027, the uniforms would set her family up well as her son would inherit his sister's uniforms.
According to Education Department figures, spending on uniforms has been the most popular way to allocate the funds, parents having spent $81.3 million on uniforms since November.
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The Advertiser
4 days ago
- The Advertiser
As international student numbers fall, we must ask ourselves an important question
The latest international student data from Australia's Department of Education paints an increasingly grim scenario for the international education sector due to a steep decline in the number of new students. The Department's data compares the number of new students from April 2024 to April 2025, with many sectors recording massive falls in numbers including, English language (ELICOS) (down 49 per cent) VET (down 67 per cent) and school (down 23 per cent), while the higher education sector is only down 2 per cent. The Department's data also shows that the desire for diversity, cited in the 2021 to 2030 Australian Strategy for International Education, is not being fulfilled, with 57 per cent of all international students coming from just five source countries - China (23 per cent), India (17 per cent), Nepal (8 per cent), Vietnam (5 per cent) and Philippines (4 per cent). Indeed, many cohorts have had their numbers slashed, including those from Latin America. The number of visa grants for English studies has halved from 35,596 to 17,999 between August and December 2024, with Colombia hardest hit, numbers falling from 24.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent of visas granted. Another concerning trend revealed in the Education Department's latest data release is that in both higher education and VET, the most popular courses are in management and commerce. While this area of study is likely very useful for students who are returning to their home country, it's hardly an area where Australia is facing pressing skills shortages. With visa refusals continuing en masse both offshore and onshore, the Administrative Review Tribunal, already at capacity, now has about 100,000 pending cases, 34,000 of these being student visa refusals. This begs a fundamental question for the international education sector now, which is: What constitutes a genuine student? This is where the issue lies and what many in the sector are waiting to have fully clarified by the government, since it is upon this definition that refusals are based, many quite subjectively. Should we be permitting only those who have the obvious skill sets to fill skills shortages in Australia to enter, or to study in these areas, only if they have previous experience and studies that are relevant? Or should we also be encouraging those who wish to study business or marketing at VET level just to have an experience of studying outside of their countries, to then go back home and spread the message of what a great country Australia is, otherwise known as "soft diplomacy"? The reality is that Home Affairs visa processing officers don't seem to clearly know what the government's objective is currently. We are seeing decisions made that leave qualified engineers, architects and would-be tradies, who could help solve the country's housing crisis, either appealing their visa rejection or simply giving up and going home or to an alternate study destination. Recently, I spoke with some students from Colombia, many of whom had their visas refused. Some were well-qualified engineers who could have ably assisted in addressing the urgent and growing shortage of engineers in the country. They simply can't understand why their visas were refused, and believe a marked increase in the number of people applying for protection visas from Colombia and other Latin American countries could be unfairly impacting their chances, as legitimate and qualified students, of having their study visas approved. In the meantime, we keep hearing of good quality education providers in both the English and VET sectors, collapsing, one after another, while poor quality operators continue to thrive under the radar. When you go nuclear, you get left with the cockroaches. Yes, a clean-up of the sector is necessary, but at this point we are risking severe economic consequences - job losses amongst Australians, 240,000 of whom have been employed in the sector, and reputational challenges where Australia is not seen as the once friendly country it was. The government may well be pleased with the dramatic reduction in student numbers, but there will be significant unintended consequences of this policy in the coming years. Decisive action needs to be taken, and now, before it's too late and we are left as we were after two years of border closures, with the country crying out for skilled workers and both businesses and the economy reeling from the impact. The latest international student data from Australia's Department of Education paints an increasingly grim scenario for the international education sector due to a steep decline in the number of new students. The Department's data compares the number of new students from April 2024 to April 2025, with many sectors recording massive falls in numbers including, English language (ELICOS) (down 49 per cent) VET (down 67 per cent) and school (down 23 per cent), while the higher education sector is only down 2 per cent. The Department's data also shows that the desire for diversity, cited in the 2021 to 2030 Australian Strategy for International Education, is not being fulfilled, with 57 per cent of all international students coming from just five source countries - China (23 per cent), India (17 per cent), Nepal (8 per cent), Vietnam (5 per cent) and Philippines (4 per cent). Indeed, many cohorts have had their numbers slashed, including those from Latin America. The number of visa grants for English studies has halved from 35,596 to 17,999 between August and December 2024, with Colombia hardest hit, numbers falling from 24.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent of visas granted. Another concerning trend revealed in the Education Department's latest data release is that in both higher education and VET, the most popular courses are in management and commerce. While this area of study is likely very useful for students who are returning to their home country, it's hardly an area where Australia is facing pressing skills shortages. With visa refusals continuing en masse both offshore and onshore, the Administrative Review Tribunal, already at capacity, now has about 100,000 pending cases, 34,000 of these being student visa refusals. This begs a fundamental question for the international education sector now, which is: What constitutes a genuine student? This is where the issue lies and what many in the sector are waiting to have fully clarified by the government, since it is upon this definition that refusals are based, many quite subjectively. Should we be permitting only those who have the obvious skill sets to fill skills shortages in Australia to enter, or to study in these areas, only if they have previous experience and studies that are relevant? Or should we also be encouraging those who wish to study business or marketing at VET level just to have an experience of studying outside of their countries, to then go back home and spread the message of what a great country Australia is, otherwise known as "soft diplomacy"? The reality is that Home Affairs visa processing officers don't seem to clearly know what the government's objective is currently. We are seeing decisions made that leave qualified engineers, architects and would-be tradies, who could help solve the country's housing crisis, either appealing their visa rejection or simply giving up and going home or to an alternate study destination. Recently, I spoke with some students from Colombia, many of whom had their visas refused. Some were well-qualified engineers who could have ably assisted in addressing the urgent and growing shortage of engineers in the country. They simply can't understand why their visas were refused, and believe a marked increase in the number of people applying for protection visas from Colombia and other Latin American countries could be unfairly impacting their chances, as legitimate and qualified students, of having their study visas approved. In the meantime, we keep hearing of good quality education providers in both the English and VET sectors, collapsing, one after another, while poor quality operators continue to thrive under the radar. When you go nuclear, you get left with the cockroaches. Yes, a clean-up of the sector is necessary, but at this point we are risking severe economic consequences - job losses amongst Australians, 240,000 of whom have been employed in the sector, and reputational challenges where Australia is not seen as the once friendly country it was. The government may well be pleased with the dramatic reduction in student numbers, but there will be significant unintended consequences of this policy in the coming years. Decisive action needs to be taken, and now, before it's too late and we are left as we were after two years of border closures, with the country crying out for skilled workers and both businesses and the economy reeling from the impact. The latest international student data from Australia's Department of Education paints an increasingly grim scenario for the international education sector due to a steep decline in the number of new students. The Department's data compares the number of new students from April 2024 to April 2025, with many sectors recording massive falls in numbers including, English language (ELICOS) (down 49 per cent) VET (down 67 per cent) and school (down 23 per cent), while the higher education sector is only down 2 per cent. The Department's data also shows that the desire for diversity, cited in the 2021 to 2030 Australian Strategy for International Education, is not being fulfilled, with 57 per cent of all international students coming from just five source countries - China (23 per cent), India (17 per cent), Nepal (8 per cent), Vietnam (5 per cent) and Philippines (4 per cent). Indeed, many cohorts have had their numbers slashed, including those from Latin America. The number of visa grants for English studies has halved from 35,596 to 17,999 between August and December 2024, with Colombia hardest hit, numbers falling from 24.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent of visas granted. Another concerning trend revealed in the Education Department's latest data release is that in both higher education and VET, the most popular courses are in management and commerce. While this area of study is likely very useful for students who are returning to their home country, it's hardly an area where Australia is facing pressing skills shortages. With visa refusals continuing en masse both offshore and onshore, the Administrative Review Tribunal, already at capacity, now has about 100,000 pending cases, 34,000 of these being student visa refusals. This begs a fundamental question for the international education sector now, which is: What constitutes a genuine student? This is where the issue lies and what many in the sector are waiting to have fully clarified by the government, since it is upon this definition that refusals are based, many quite subjectively. Should we be permitting only those who have the obvious skill sets to fill skills shortages in Australia to enter, or to study in these areas, only if they have previous experience and studies that are relevant? Or should we also be encouraging those who wish to study business or marketing at VET level just to have an experience of studying outside of their countries, to then go back home and spread the message of what a great country Australia is, otherwise known as "soft diplomacy"? The reality is that Home Affairs visa processing officers don't seem to clearly know what the government's objective is currently. We are seeing decisions made that leave qualified engineers, architects and would-be tradies, who could help solve the country's housing crisis, either appealing their visa rejection or simply giving up and going home or to an alternate study destination. Recently, I spoke with some students from Colombia, many of whom had their visas refused. Some were well-qualified engineers who could have ably assisted in addressing the urgent and growing shortage of engineers in the country. They simply can't understand why their visas were refused, and believe a marked increase in the number of people applying for protection visas from Colombia and other Latin American countries could be unfairly impacting their chances, as legitimate and qualified students, of having their study visas approved. In the meantime, we keep hearing of good quality education providers in both the English and VET sectors, collapsing, one after another, while poor quality operators continue to thrive under the radar. When you go nuclear, you get left with the cockroaches. Yes, a clean-up of the sector is necessary, but at this point we are risking severe economic consequences - job losses amongst Australians, 240,000 of whom have been employed in the sector, and reputational challenges where Australia is not seen as the once friendly country it was. The government may well be pleased with the dramatic reduction in student numbers, but there will be significant unintended consequences of this policy in the coming years. Decisive action needs to be taken, and now, before it's too late and we are left as we were after two years of border closures, with the country crying out for skilled workers and both businesses and the economy reeling from the impact. The latest international student data from Australia's Department of Education paints an increasingly grim scenario for the international education sector due to a steep decline in the number of new students. The Department's data compares the number of new students from April 2024 to April 2025, with many sectors recording massive falls in numbers including, English language (ELICOS) (down 49 per cent) VET (down 67 per cent) and school (down 23 per cent), while the higher education sector is only down 2 per cent. The Department's data also shows that the desire for diversity, cited in the 2021 to 2030 Australian Strategy for International Education, is not being fulfilled, with 57 per cent of all international students coming from just five source countries - China (23 per cent), India (17 per cent), Nepal (8 per cent), Vietnam (5 per cent) and Philippines (4 per cent). Indeed, many cohorts have had their numbers slashed, including those from Latin America. The number of visa grants for English studies has halved from 35,596 to 17,999 between August and December 2024, with Colombia hardest hit, numbers falling from 24.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent of visas granted. Another concerning trend revealed in the Education Department's latest data release is that in both higher education and VET, the most popular courses are in management and commerce. While this area of study is likely very useful for students who are returning to their home country, it's hardly an area where Australia is facing pressing skills shortages. With visa refusals continuing en masse both offshore and onshore, the Administrative Review Tribunal, already at capacity, now has about 100,000 pending cases, 34,000 of these being student visa refusals. This begs a fundamental question for the international education sector now, which is: What constitutes a genuine student? This is where the issue lies and what many in the sector are waiting to have fully clarified by the government, since it is upon this definition that refusals are based, many quite subjectively. Should we be permitting only those who have the obvious skill sets to fill skills shortages in Australia to enter, or to study in these areas, only if they have previous experience and studies that are relevant? Or should we also be encouraging those who wish to study business or marketing at VET level just to have an experience of studying outside of their countries, to then go back home and spread the message of what a great country Australia is, otherwise known as "soft diplomacy"? The reality is that Home Affairs visa processing officers don't seem to clearly know what the government's objective is currently. We are seeing decisions made that leave qualified engineers, architects and would-be tradies, who could help solve the country's housing crisis, either appealing their visa rejection or simply giving up and going home or to an alternate study destination. Recently, I spoke with some students from Colombia, many of whom had their visas refused. Some were well-qualified engineers who could have ably assisted in addressing the urgent and growing shortage of engineers in the country. They simply can't understand why their visas were refused, and believe a marked increase in the number of people applying for protection visas from Colombia and other Latin American countries could be unfairly impacting their chances, as legitimate and qualified students, of having their study visas approved. In the meantime, we keep hearing of good quality education providers in both the English and VET sectors, collapsing, one after another, while poor quality operators continue to thrive under the radar. When you go nuclear, you get left with the cockroaches. Yes, a clean-up of the sector is necessary, but at this point we are risking severe economic consequences - job losses amongst Australians, 240,000 of whom have been employed in the sector, and reputational challenges where Australia is not seen as the once friendly country it was. The government may well be pleased with the dramatic reduction in student numbers, but there will be significant unintended consequences of this policy in the coming years. Decisive action needs to be taken, and now, before it's too late and we are left as we were after two years of border closures, with the country crying out for skilled workers and both businesses and the economy reeling from the impact.
Courier-Mail
03-07-2025
- Courier-Mail
G8 Education crashes after Joshua Brown allegations
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The company that operates the Point Cook childcare centre at the heart of Victoria's alleged child sex abuse horror is crashing in value, losing some $120m in the market since Tuesday. G8 Education, a listed company on the ASX, has declined some 16 per cent since Tuesday's revelation that Joshua Brown, a childcare worker at the company's Creative Garden Point Cook centre, allegedly sexually abused eight children aged from five months to two years. The decline has wiped out about $120m in market value as investors flee the company. On Thursday, investment bank Macquarie downgraded its 12-month price target for the stock to $1.15 from $1.53, citing the Point Cook incident. G8 slumped 7 per cent across the day and traded for just $1 at 3.30pm for a market capitalisation of some $765m. In a statement from Tuesday, the company acknowledged that a 'former G8 Education team member' had been charged with offences involving children. 'The current charges against the former team member are in relation to offences involving children at Creative Garden Point Cook only,' the company said. Stock in G8 Education has fallen 15 per cent since Tuesday. Picture: Supplied 'These allegations are serious in nature and are extremely distressing. 'We are focused on supporting all those impacted not just at our centres but across the community. 'Aligned with G8 Education's commitment to child safety and protection, during the former team member's employment, all required employment and background checks, including working with children checks, were current in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements … we are co-operating fully with Victoria Police, the Victorian government and other relevant authorities as part of the investigation.' The company added that it had 'no tolerance' for behaviour that compromised the safety or wellbeing of children. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment further on the specifics of the case,' the company said. G8 operates more than 400 centres across the country. For the 2024 calendar year, the company reported $1.021bn in revenues and net profits of $67.7m. G8 has struggled across 2025, even before this week's dramatic tumble. Year-to-date, shares in the company are down about 25 per cent. Alleged child sex abuser Joshua Brown worked at a G8 Education centre. Picture Supplied., Police have charged Michael Simon Wilson with raping a teenage boy. Picture: Supplied On Tuesday, Victorian Police revealed they had charged Mr Brown, 26, with 70 offences after he allegedly abused eight children at the centre. It is alleged some children were as young as five months. A widespread investigation has now been launched, with Victoria's chief health officer saying 1200 children have been recommended to undergo infectious diseases testing. Mr Brown was arrested on May 12 and is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 15. Police allege Mr Brown worked at 20 centres across the state between January 2017 and May 2025. A second man known to Mr Brown, Michael Simon Wilson, has also been charged with child sex offences. On Wednesday afternoon, Victorian Police revealed Mr Wilson was a 36-year-old man from Hoppers Crossing. He has been charged with raping a teenage boy, possessing child abuse material, and bestiality. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has pledged urgent reform in the wake of Tuesday's allegations. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short Mr Wilson's alleged offences are not believed to involve childcare centres or any of Mr Brown's alleged victims. The allegations against Mr Brown and Mr Wilson have rocked the country. Education Minister Jason Clare, speaking on Wednesday, promised urgent reforms into child safety, including cutting off funding for centres that fail to meet minimum standards. He also flagged changes to background checks for workers. 'It's taken too long to do the work necessary to make sure that our Working with Children Check system is up to scratch,' he said. 'In too many examples, a perpetrator is eventually caught and arrested and sentenced, there's somebody that got a Working with Children Check because they had no prior criminal record,' he said. Originally published as Stock in G8 Education declines 15 per cent on Joshua Brown allegations
Perth Now
03-07-2025
- Perth Now
$120m wiped out in childcare horror show
The company that operates the Point Cook childcare centre at the heart of Victoria's alleged child sex abuse horror is crashing in value, losing some $120m in the market since Tuesday. G8 Education, a listed company on the ASX, has declined some 16 per cent since Tuesday's revelation that Joshua Brown, a childcare worker at the company's Creative Garden Point Cook centre, allegedly sexually abused eight children aged from five months to two years. The decline has wiped out about $120m in market value as investors flee the company. On Thursday, investment bank Macquarie downgraded its 12-month price target for the stock to $1.15 from $1.53, citing the Point Cook incident. G8 slumped 7 per cent across the day and traded for just $1 at 3.30pm for a market capitalisation of some $765m. In a statement from Tuesday, the company acknowledged that a 'former G8 Education team member' had been charged with offences involving children. 'The current charges against the former team member are in relation to offences involving children at Creative Garden Point Cook only,' the company said. Stock in G8 Education has fallen 15 per cent since Tuesday. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia 'These allegations are serious in nature and are extremely distressing. 'We are focused on supporting all those impacted not just at our centres but across the community. 'Aligned with G8 Education's commitment to child safety and protection, during the former team member's employment, all required employment and background checks, including working with children checks, were current in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements … we are co-operating fully with Victoria Police, the Victorian government and other relevant authorities as part of the investigation.' The company added that it had 'no tolerance' for behaviour that compromised the safety or wellbeing of children. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment further on the specifics of the case,' the company said. G8 operates more than 400 centres across the country. For the 2024 calendar year, the company reported $1.021bn in revenues and net profits of $67.7m. G8 has struggled across 2025, even before this week's dramatic tumble. Year-to-date, shares in the company are down about 25 per cent. Alleged child sex abuser Joshua Brown worked at a G8 Education centre. Picture Supplied., Credit: Supplied Police have charged Michael Simon Wilson with raping a teenage boy. Supplied Credit: Supplied On Tuesday, Victorian Police revealed they had charged Mr Brown, 26, with 70 offences after he allegedly abused eight children at the centre. It is alleged some children were as young as five months. A widespread investigation has now been launched, with Victoria's chief health officer saying 1200 children have been recommended to undergo infectious diseases testing. Mr Brown was arrested on May 12 and is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 15. Police allege Mr Brown worked at 20 centres across the state between January 2017 and May 2025. A second man known to Mr Brown, Michael Simon Wilson, has also been charged with child sex offences. On Wednesday afternoon, Victorian Police revealed Mr Wilson was a 36-year-old man from Hoppers Crossing. He has been charged with raping a teenage boy, possessing child abuse material, and bestiality. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has pledged urgent reform in the wake of Tuesday's allegations. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Wilson's alleged offences are not believed to involve childcare centres or any of Mr Brown's alleged victims. The allegations against Mr Brown and Mr Wilson have rocked the country. Education Minister Jason Clare, speaking on Wednesday, promised urgent reforms into child safety, including cutting off funding for centres that fail to meet minimum standards. He also flagged changes to background checks for workers. 'It's taken too long to do the work necessary to make sure that our Working with Children Check system is up to scratch,' he said. 'In too many examples, a perpetrator is eventually caught and arrested and sentenced, there's somebody that got a Working with Children Check because they had no prior criminal record,' he said.
