Timboon's only childcare centre will close on June 28, 2024. There are no childcare centres in nearby Cobden or Port Campbell. There are centres at Camperdown and Terang, both about a half-hour drive away and in Colac, about 50 minutes away, but reportedly there's no places available.
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As one working mum told us this week, "it's a nightmare" for parents with jobs.
A report from the Mitchell Institute in 2022 revealed in the southern part of Corangamite Shire there were nine children for every childcare place available. That's now surely more. That same report said the south-west was the worst place in the state for finding childcare.
Corangamite Shire owns the building which Kardinia Early Learning leases and the council is hoping to attract another provider. Kardinia's chief executive officer Sue Bunting said a lack of workers was behind its decision and a drop nationally in the number of people taking on tertiary training meant shortages would get worse before they get better.
But what if the shire can't find a provider?
About a dozen childcare workers will be out of work.
Parents and workers in the Timboon area are already fearing the knock-on impact. Without childcare, parents may have to cut back their working hours or worse, stop working. That won't be good for a burgeoning part of the south-west which has strong dairy, beef and tourism industries.
As another mum, who is also a worker at the centre, said, the shire has worked hard to unlock land for development to house people but if people aren't working, who's going to live in these houses? And that has implications for the building industry.
Timboon is not alone. Warrnambool City Council has a childcare waiting list of 380 for its centre and some private centres say they won't have places until 2026.
Childcare, or the lack of it, is a complex issue. As already mentioned, it impacts other industries. We have regularly reported on the region's labour shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic, just this week Warrnambool City Council, on behalf of the region's councils, announced the federal government had agreed to triple the number of overseas workers who could come to the region. The number of occupations was increased to more than 120 It comes as the region's unemployment rate sits around 2 per cent.
We need workers to keep the region thriving.
So what's the solution?
We need more childcare workers and operators.
Finding more workers is not easy, it too is complex. South West TAFE has free childcare courses and there has been a rise in the number of participants with more than 160 enrolled this year. It has also pivoted from full-time study and is offering on the job training under an 'earn and learn' program, plus it offers bridging courses for those with lapsed qualifications. Just what we need.
But getting people interested in a career in the industry is another issue because traditionally pay, around $25 an hour, and burnout, have been issues.
The city council is working on a regional and local early years workforce plan with the state government and it has been advocating for funding to develop an early years centre of excellence in partnership with TAFE and Deakin University to accelerate more educators joining the region's workforce. The council is also calling for more funding to upgrade and potentially build childcare facilities and it has met with department officials about the government's plans for a state-owned new Warrnambool centre.
The council's early years team had a stall at the recent Warrnambool District Careers Expo and that generated an encouraging level of interest.
There are no quick fixes but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
