What happened at Warrnambool's biggest childcare centre this week was shocking. Already thin staffing resources were depleted so much the centre had to lock its door and message parents to say no more children could be accepted that day.

At short notice, that threw working parents and their employers into chaos.

Any working parent knows how draining the morning rush to get ready for the day ahead can be but imagine the stress and panic when you get to the front door of the centre to find it locked.

The centre then had to encourage parents to consider not sending their children for the rest of the week if they could find alternatives.

The reality is, some places could be withdrawn, dealing blows to parents trying to earn enough to put food on the table and roofs over their heads.

One parent who works part-time has the opportunity to extend their hours faces the prospect of having to reduce time on the job.

This is just not work-able.

We have published countless stories about staff shortages, what industry doesn't have vacancies at the moment? If parents are forced to cut hours, the problems only get worse for employers. If workers reduce hours in a time of rising interest rates and skyrocketing costs, pressure builds on household budgets.

Childcare is a critical part of society. Adults need to earn a living, businesses, organisations need workers, workers need someone to care for their children. The world as we know it can't go round without someone looking after the little ones.

Warrnambool has plenty of child care centres, some private, some council-run. It's not that we don't have enough centres, although more is always better, but we don't have enough qualified staff to run them.

Where do we find more? How do we train them? Can we entice people from other related fields and fast-track training?

In towns needing centres, can we remove some of the red-tape and hurry those projects along? Warrnambool has two on the drawing board but they are a while off still.

South West Tafe says it has more than 130 people enrolled in childcare courses but is that enough? And when will those people qualify?

Home-based childcare or family daycare is an alternative to centre-based care. In a week in which the city council launched an 'un-retire the Bool' initiative, could retired childcare workers be coaxed into working from home?

We need solutions quickly because waiting lists are growing.