Campbelltown named ‘childcare desert’ as families compete for spots in centres

One southwest Sydney childcare centre has revealed there are at least 15 children on the waiting list for their baby room.

Southwest families are having to compete in a “childcare desert”, new research has revealed, while one Campbelltown centre has revealed parents are signing onto waitlists before their baby is even born.

The report from Victoria University affiliated Mitchell Institute revealed that some three million people in NSW are living in what it qualifies as “childcare deserts”, which are places where there are more than three kids for every childcare place available.

The geographical divide is stark, with suburbs in the inner city having a range of childcare options, while parents in the southwest and western suburbs, along with regional NSW, have to compete for very few places.

In Campbelltown, the data reveals there are at least three children in the suburb for every one childcare place.

While in Camden and Wollondilly, there are at least two.

Generic images of children playing at C and K's Newmarket Childcare Centre.

It also showed that more than 58 per cent of Campbelltown, is considered a “childcare desert”.

The same term is applied to 35.28 per cent of Wollondilly and 16.7 per cent of Camden.

Melissa Keeling, the manager of Community Kids Campbelltown Early Education Centre, said in her nine years working at the centre, she has never seen demand this strong.

She said the zero to two room is the most popular with at least 15 children on the waiting list.

“I haven’t seen this amount of babies needing care before,” Ms Keeling said.

“We have increased our numbers in the baby room to cater for the demand, but we still have a big waiting list.

“I have had quite a few families come in, and they haven’t even had their baby yet but they want to get on the waiting list because they understand the situation.”

The centre caters for children up to five years, and in the next age group up from the baby room, demand is still strong.

“We are full in our toddler room,” Ms Keeling said.

“The only room we have space for more children is in the preschool room.”

Ms Keeling said it seems like multiple factors could be at play including people have returned to work after the pandemic, and also the population growth in southwest Sydney.

“Campbelltown has definitely grown a lot,” she said.

“I think the development of new housing and estate is going to increase the demand for childcare too.

“I think the demand will increase.”

The report’s lead author, Dr Peter Hurley, argues that the privatised childcare sector isn’t opening centres where the demand is highest, but where the owners can charge the highest fees.

“Our research shows that the most expensive childcare in Australian cities are also in suburbs with more childcare places, suggesting there is an incentive for providers to open in wealthier areas where families can afford to pay higher fees,” Dr Hurley said.

“.. More competition in these areas isn’t driving down prices. The incentive is for providers to go where they can make the most profit.”

The report also notes that women living in childcare deserts were less likely to be in the workforce while they had children under five.

How they calculated it

The report uses data from Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), which rates the more than 8,700 childcare centres that operate nationally.

The report’s authors decided on using data for childcare places for 0-4 year olds, only including centres open more than forty hours per week, and excluding children who attend preschool.

From the ACECQA data, that equalled out to 602,000 places nationally for 1.52 million children.

This results in a ratio of about 0.396 childcare places per child, if childcare was equally divided across the country.

The authors classify childcare deserts as places where there are more than three kids for every childcare place available. That also equals a score of 0.33 or lower.

By comparison, an oasis is a place that scores 0.6 or higher, meaning there are 0.6 places for every child in the area, significantly above the national average.

Pictured at Planet Kindy Childcare in Liverpool is Emilia Romovic, Maximus Karantonis, Aseel Siddig and Merna Said. Waitlists for childcare in Sydney are at all time highs as are the costs. Picture: Richard Dobson

The authors explain that the score of 0.6 equals out to three full days of childcare available for every child, every week, meeting the bar of ‘universal access’.

To calculate how many childcare options an individual ABS-defined statistical region had, travel times were used as a metric instead of distance, LGA, or suburb, to more fairly consider how people move in regional areas, according Dr Hurley.

For example, two opposite ends of a peninsula might be within 10km, but an hour drive away.

To calculate the score of each region, the team used a baseline of a 10 minute drive for metropolitan Sydney, and a 20 minute drive for regional areas, then weighted the numbers higher or lower depending on whether the childcare options were within the travel time.

So a region with multiple options that were 2.5 minutes away would score higher than a region with the same options that were 10 minutes or more away.

That also allows for a fairer comparison between two households in opposite ends of the same small regional town, and equalises the difference in convenience.

Because the authors have chosen to weigh the childcare places available against travel times, the scores aren’t straightforward comparisons of availability, they also take into account convenience, which the authors believe is a huge factor in parent’s childcare choices.

It more fairly weighs up the issue of accessibility, according to Dr Hurley.