Australian parents waiting up to two years for childcare as sector’s reality revealed

Some parents are facing childcare waiting lists of more than two years long. See how your local centres compare and how to beat the queue.

Lisa Emme is centre director of Goodstart Elara in Sydney. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Some parents are waiting more than two years to get their kids a place at a childcare centre, with some wait lists blowing out to more than 1000.

One in five Aussie suburbs had a much higher demand for childcare places than the national average, while demand was extreme in almost 100 suburbs, according to data from comparison app KindiCare.

The app’s founder Benjamin Balk compiled the demand index using more than a million childcare listing views and engagements from his platforms over the last 12 months.

Ms Emme plays with pupils Isla, Joy and Isabelle as demand for childcare centres surges in high growth areas like Western Sydney. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

He said there was a correlation between high demand for childcare place and areas which had seen new housing developments, or regions where there had been an influx of sea or tree changers during Covid.

“With the cost of living rising, childcare is no longer a choice, it is an essential service,” Mr Balk said.

“One that does not have proper infrastructure planning and support, which has left largely the private sector to try and fill the gaps.

“Delays between a suburb growing with new subdivisions, and the opening of a childcare centre, is often too little too late.”

NSW suburbs dominated the “extremely high demand” category, with South Australia, Queensland, and the ACT all in the top 10 and Victoria’s most in demand suburb – West Melbourne – coming in at number 13 on the index.

Warnervale on NSW’s Central Coast, a popular spot for Sydneysiders looking for more affordable housing, had the highest demand for childcare in the country, according to the KindiCare demand index.

Affinity Education Group, which had more than 230 centres across Australia, said it was seeing great demand in Western Sydney. It recently opened a centre, Papilio Early Learning Schofields Central, which still had more than 1000 families registered on the waitlist.

Thelma Ghayyem has a child attending Goodstart Elara childcare centre in Marsden Park, which has a waiting list of 500. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

The group had also seen “rapidly growing demand in the Tamworth region of NSW, as well as Ballarat and Bairnsdale in Victoria, where many families had relocated in recent years.

One private childcare provider with 60 centres across the country said some of their centres on the Sunshine Coast, had waiting lists of up to two years.

It said many of those looking for places were newcomers from Victoria, NSW and Brisbane.

Mr Balk said some suburbs had extremely high demand despite a seemingly high number of childcare centres and approved places.

“Parramatta in NSW has 15 childcare centres and kindergartens with a total of 928 approved places, yet demand for childcare in this suburb was still greater than three times the national average compared to supply,” he said.

Childcare advocates have also been pushing for three days of free childcare for every child and for the activity test to be scrapped, which if would also push up demand if accepted by the government.

Meanwhile, nationwide staffing shortages were also putting pressure on the system and meant some centres were having to artificially reduce the number of places available, particularly in regional and rural areas.

Government figures show one in six childcare centres had staffing waivers – meaning they had requested permission to operate with fewer staff than the recommended ratio.

Almost a quarter of Queensland and South Australia centres had a staff waiver, while in NSW it was one in five.

At the other end of the spectrum, just 2.75 per cent of long day care centres in Victoria had a staff waiver in place.

Mr Balk said his data also showed that quality was very important to parents, with centres rated a KindiCare rating of 9.5 of higher getting 75 per cent more views on average on his platforms.

“We find that quality, more than price and location, is the primary factor for parents when choosing childcare; especially for their first child,” Mr Balk said.

“Parents would rather pay a little extra or travel further to get the right centre for their little one.”

KindiCare Founder Benjamin Balk, with his family. Picture: Kirsty Jauncey Photography.

FAMILIES’ DESPERATE PLIGHT FOR CHILDCARE REVEALED

One of childcare centre director Lisa Emme’s daily jobs is to console desperate parents who have children on the 1000-plus long waiting list.

Goodstart Elara in Marsden Park, 50km from Sydney’s CBD, opened less than two years ago.

But the not-for-profit provider is already opening a second centre next year, just 800m away, due to the high demand in the area.

The second centre, like the first, will be capped at 121 places a day, and so will only make a small dent in the waiting list.

Ms Emme said families have moved to the area because of the new housing estates and are shocked to find the schools oversubscribed and no childcare.

“We see a lot of really angry and frustrated families,” Ms Emme said.

“We see a lot of tears. It’s good when we can tell someone they have a place and it’s tears of joy.”

Ms Emme said new houses are going up all the time, but there is little in the way of new infrastructure to support the young families moving in.

The local public school had 13 kindy classes start this year.

She said there are plans to build a temporary public primary school and a high school to cater for the demand.

Most of the families on her waiting list are also on the lists of multiple childcare centres. But for many Goodstart Elara is their first choice after it recently received exceeding in every single category by the regulator, adding to it popularity.

“I’d say 95 per cent of families on the waiting list are from Elara and around half have heard about us through word-of-mouth because of our good reputation,” Ms Emme said.