I think 'playgroup' is a registered name and the fees are for joining a playgroup in the Playgroup Australia association which is why there is an annual fee and I have seen other playgroups that charge an annual fee and $4 per week per child or $10 for a family on top of it.

Most of these variation groups will be run by community centres, schools or church groups - places where insurance is already covered by the overarching organisation.

Hope that helps
yeah this is the difference i think with the fee structures. Playgroup is a registered association as JM mentioned. if you can find a community centre one then i reckon that's the way to go! the ones we tried to get into (but our original group was too big being the old MACH run group of 11 girls) had awesome playspaces and kitchenettes with great climbing toys and mats etc that grew with the children. so if you had a little baby that was fine, there were couches and coffee, tea facilities and a fridge to store food and microwaves. and then for the bigger toddlers etc there were the climbing frames and mats. man, how i wish we could of been able to do that!