Working mums in rural Victorian towns marooned in ‘childcare deserts’

Working mums in rural towns such as Seymour face a five-year wait to secure a place in long daycare as country families are marooned in “childcare deserts”.

Frustrated mums in central Victoria say they feel isolated, held back and let down by the Allan government as huge childcare waitlists force them to forgo career opportunities and delay their return to work.

Victorian parents living in the state’s wide-reaching “childcare deserts” are battling to put food on the table as waitlists of more than a year for childcare force mothers to sacrifice their income amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

In the central Victorian town of Seymour, business owner and NDIS support worker Miranda Chitty is one of many mums desperately trying to source childcare.

“Our mortgage since we moved up here three years ago has increased more than $3000 a month,” she said.

Seymour mums such as Jamie Francis, with son Phynix, face huge wait lists for childcare. Picture: Grace Frost

“If I don’t work, we don’t live and we would lose our house.”

Ms Chitty requested five days of care for her son at the town’s only long daycare centre Goodstart Early Learning – open 7.30am to 6pm – three years ago.

She’s been told it will be another two years before he’s accepted.

By then, her son will be school age.

Ms Chitty said she had applied for more than 10 daycare and childcare centres in surrounding areas.

“Some of them are saying their waitlists are seven-plus years long,” she said.

She said she felt “trapped” by a system “holding women back” from career advancement and job security as she urged the state government to step in.

“I’ve just spent the last (few) days in tears,” she said. “I’m having to work through the night instead of sleeping.”

Seymour mother-of-three Jamie Francis, who is “desperately in need” of care for her little boy Phynix, one, is on a 12-month waiting list at two childcare centres.

Ms Francis said she was “one of the lucky ones” who was able to partly work from home.

“The difficulty is trying to do two things at once – you’re trying to concentrate and take phone calls with a screaming kid,” she said. “I want to be able to succeed and move up and grow new skills.”

Ms Francis said cost-of-living increases had made it difficult to live off just her partner’s wage.

Goodstart Seymour confirmed their waiting list was more than a year long.

In the lead-up to the 2022 election, the Victorian government announced a new childcare centre in Seymour.

It is one of 50 government-owned and operated early learning and childcare centres planned for key locations between 2025 and 2028.

The Seymour site expected to open in 2028.

But experienced early childhood director Tracey Davey, who is a Seymour local, said the planned opening of a government-owned and run early learning centre was likely to deter private providers.

Ms Francis says the shortage has forced her to pull back her career ambitions. Picture: Grace Frost.

She said other major barriers were “workforce challenges, including attracting and retaining staff, difficulties with accessing backfill and a lack of experienced mentors”.

Opposition spokesperson for Early Childhood and Education Jess Wilson said the “looming potential of a government site being built four or five years down the track means any private or not-for-profit provider prepared to open a site today will be forced to reconsider”.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Thursday, however, said the years-long wait for new centres was due to a shortage in early learning educators.

“One of the reasons why it takes time to do this is because we need to make sure that we’ve got the workforce in place,” she said.

She said early learning was now one of the top three most popular free TAFE courses.

“It’s certainly going to provide that job security into the future, but I do acknowledge that the delivery of these sorts of services take time as you build the facilities you invest in the workforce,” she said.

She noted that childcare was primarily a federal government responsibility.

Ronni Druitt, who runs the only long daycare in nearby Nagambie and another service in Avenel – a 15-minute drive from Seymour – also confirmed wait times of more than a year at her services.

“We have room on the Avenel site for long daycare and we’re considering it due to the needs of the community, but there is no funding for not-for-profits to build childcare,” she said.

“That coupled with the lack of early childhood educators have made it close to impossible to consider long daycare.”

Euroa MP Annabelle Cleeland said parents in central Victoria were sometimes forced to choose “under-skilled and under-regulated childcare alternatives”.

Euroa MP Annabelle Cleeland says parents in central Victoria are forced to seek out under-skilled and under-regulated childcare alternatives. Picture: Supplied

“The potential government childcare centre opening in Seymour is still at least five years away from being ready, leaving parents waiting and stopping private and not-for-profit childcare providers from investing in the region,” she said.