The Albanese Labor government crow about increasing wages and subsidies for childcare, but Mallee families are stranded in a childcare desert, with long waiting lists or – in some towns – no childcare service at all. Childcare is an essential service in modern, regional Australia – without it, young families will leave communities.

Mallee parents regularly contact me desperately seeking help in our childcare deserts. My own policy adviser’s children were on a waitlist in Swan Hill for more than two years—so long that her daughter started primary school before securing a childcare place. The Albanese Labor government has left families and rural councils to fend for themselves.

In Kerang, at last count, there were 85 children under the age of three waiting for a place at the Gannawarra Shire Children’s Centre. At Cohuna’s family daycare, 34 were waiting for a place, and 45 waiting for a spot at Kerang Family Day Care. The Victorian state government committed to building an early learning centre in Cohuna, but, without a confirmed date, families and the local council simply cannot plan for the future.

The current childcare funding model is broken. Services in Mallee’s rural towns rely heavily on cyclical and unsustainable Commonwealth subsidies. The Albanese Labor government must invest in the infrastructure to support new childcare centres and address crippling workforce shortages especially in our regions. Our children and their parents deserve better.