Data shows Townsville among the worst areas for childcare in Queensland

Data shows Townsville is one of the worst areas in Queensland for early learning accessibility, as advocacy groups saying lack of early childhood support can affect all aspects of life.

Aunty Rachel Atkinson, Board Executive of SNAICC, National Voice for our Children, and Queensland First Children and Families board member and Brad Chilcott, Thrive by Five Queensland Alliance convenor.

Advocacy groups are demanding more be done, as data shows families in Townsville are being frozen out of early learning.
The Childcare Deserts report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute showed Townsville South recorded just 0.017 available places per child.

Calling for a ‘fully stitched together early childhood development system’ in Queensland and specifically in Townsville, child and family organisations are calling on politicians to do more.

The Thrive by Five Queensland Alliance, an alliance of more than 30 organisations supporting child development and education, believes the problem in Townsville is indicative of workforce and accessibility issues across the whole state.

Aunty Rachel Atkinson, Board Executive of SNAICC, National Voice for our Children, and Queensland First Children and Families board member and Brad Chilcott, Thrive by Five Queensland Alliance convenor.

Thrive By Five Queensland Alliance convenor Brad Chilcott said local families and workers desperately needed political parties to urgently address the issue.

“No matter who wins this election in October, Townsville children deserve every opportunity to thrive and that’s why we need an early childhood development system and an early years plan for Queensland,” he said.

“We are calling on all sides of politics to commit to an early years workforce strategy for Townsville to make sure every child gets the support they need when they need it.

“It’s the right thing to do for kids, for community safety, to reduce cost of living, for parents who want to work and for the local economy. It’s a no-brainer.”

Mr Chilcott said all political parties needed to recognise that if kids start school already behind because they don’t get the right assessments and support when they need them ‘everyone loses’.

“We are asking all political parties to consider how parents in Townsville who want to work but can’t get a place in an early learning centre can get back to work, an early years plan,” he said.

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“A lack of access to childcare doesn’t just impact people’s ability to go back to work, it also robs kids of access to the quality early learning and support they need to thrive from birth to age five.”

Mr Chilcott said he believes that if kids get the best start in life, they become less and less likely to end up in the criminal justice system.

“If you want to increase community safety, if we want to keep kids out of detention centres, we need to invest in the early years,” he said.

Aunty Rachel Atkinson, Board Executive of SNAICC, National Voice for our Children, and Queensland First Children and Families board member, said the importance of providing kids and families with the support they need in their early years cannot be underestimated.

“The evidence shown here in Townsville and Palm Island and our regional and remote Aboriginal communities are struggling more to access early childhood services,” she said.

Ms Atkinson said women on Palm Island wanting to study early learning have had to withdraw from courses, due to being unable to find access to childcare, allowing them to be able to study.

“We are looking at doing Cert III in early childhood, the women and people who want to get into that course on Palm Island because of our relationship with Townsville TAFE. We can’t fill the positions because we haven’t got the early childhood services to be able to leave their children and come and do that. It’s a real catch-22,” she said.

“It’s not just Palm Island, it’s everywhere. We have one little, small early childhood mainstream service and we have a mothers group but that doesn’t cut it.”

Originally published as Data shows Townsville among the worst areas for childcare in Queensland