A new childcare centre that will nearly triple the number of placements on offer in a fast-developing Wheatbelt town has been welcomed by local parents, who say they have had to endure waiting times of more than eight months.
The Shire of Moora, 180 kilometres north-east of Perth, will relocate its 20-place childcare centre to a new site offering 55 enrolment places.
With Moora home to more than 2,400 residents and no childcare centre within the neighbouring local government area of Dandaragan, local parents say the expansion of the current facilities is well overdue.
Moora, 180km north-east of Perth, will see childcare placements almost triple after upgrades to its current childcare centre. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Eliza Bidstrup)
Dandaragan mother-of-two Brittany Brown said she had to wait more than eight months for her daughter to be offered a placement at Moora’s only childcare centre, more than 50km from her workplace.
The mining events coordinator said the lack of constant and reliable local childcare placements meant she felt she could not commit to working her “dream job”.
“There was a time where I was stressed about losing my job because I didn’t have reliable childcare,” Ms Brown said.
“I didn’t want to give up the opportunity to work in my dream job, but I had to really consider that if I couldn’t get my daughter into care.
“Like a lot of women living in regional WA, I don’t have my family living close by and able to look after my kids while I work.
“Childcare centres are a necessity, not a luxury.”
Site works are underway for the expanded Moora childcare centre that will be delivered to town at the end of 2024. (Supplied)
Childcare scarcity
Data from Victoria University, supplied exclusively to the ABC, reveals that across Australia, there are more than twice as many children as childcare places.
Nearly 6 million Australians — close to one in four — live in a “childcare desert”, defined in the study as an area where three or more children compete for each childcare place.
The figure includes more than 680,000 people living in areas with no access to child care at all.
The data revealed that in parts of the Shire of Moora there were more than 50 children for each childcare place on offer within their community.
Other areas within the local government area recorded 5.13 children per place.
Ms Brown said more needed to be done to address the lack of childcare in the Wheatbelt, particularly in her current hometown of Dandaragan, home to more than 3,300 people.
“The closest childcare centre for anyone living in Dandaragan is in Moora, which for me is 30 minutes in the wrong direction of my workplace,” she said.
“I have to travel 1 hour and 15 minutes twice a day for childcare, purely so I can do a day’s work, and this isn’t unique to me.”
Tracy Lefroy says the 55-place childcare centre is expected to open for enrolments in early 2025. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Eliza Bidstrup)
Shire of Moora president Tracy Lefroy said the level of interest in placements at the centre had exceeded expectations, with the local government expecting to invest in more childcare infrastructure within the next five years to keep up with demand.
The new centre is currently being built off-site and will be transported to the town.
It is expected to be open for enrolments during the first quarter of 2025.
