NT’s most in-demand childcare area revealed

New nation-wide data has revealed the Territory’s most in-demand childcare areas. Read more to see where your suburb ranks.

Parents are waiting in excess of 12 months for childcare support in the Northern Territory as the top 10 most in-demand suburbs have been revealed.

Leanyer, Casuarina, Brinkin, Wagaman and Darwin City make up the Territory’s top five in-demand areas with Parap, Larrakeyah, Stuart Park, Woodroffe and Knuckey Lagoon also experiencing big wait lists, according to data from comparison app KindiCare.

By national standards, the top three Territory suburbs are classified as ‘high demand’ areas, with the remaining considered ‘average demand’.

The app’s founder Benjamin Balk developed the demand index over a 12 month period.

Linda Lay of Dragonfly Play and Learn in Leanyer said she was not surprised by her suburb’s placing and confirmed services like hers were in “huge demand”.

“There’s a huge demand (to enroll at our service), I would say we’re a small service but whenever I get an inquiry it’s usually people saying that they are on a number of waiting lists,” she said.

“The wait for a position at our service is maybe 12 months, possible even longer.”

Nationally, NSW dominated the ‘extremely high demand’ category with waitlists of up to two years.

Childcare advocates have attributed the inability to meet demand to staffing shortages, with Federal Government figures indicating one in six centres had staffing waivers to operate with fewer staff than the recommended ratio.

Ms Lay agreed with the concern and said recruiting qualified staff was a struggle in Leanyer.

“One of the main things that a lot of services are struggling with is the shortage in staff and finding qualified educators.”