Letter to the Editor: Why did Nambucca council vote to do nothing about the childcare crisis?

DEAR News Of The Area,

WHEN I fled a violent relationship with my two-year-old son, I didn’t have the luxury of waiting on a two-year childcare waitlist.

I added my son to every waitlist in the area, only to wait four months for a single day of care per week.

Even now, with my son in preschool, the lack of Out of School Hours Care (OOSH) and holiday programs means I am still effectively locked out of the workforce.

My story isn’t unique, it is the baseline for parents in the Nambucca Valley.

We live in a “childcare desert” where more than three children compete for every available childcare space.

For decades, we have left childcare to the “free market”.

In regional Australia, that market has failed us.

When the private sector has failed to provide an essential service, government intervention is the only solution.

On Wednesday night, Nambucca Valley Council decided to do exactly nothing.

I watched with outrage as a proposal to fund a childcare strategy (not to build a childcare centre, just to coordinate a council response) was defeated.

Despite Councillor Jane MacSmith making multiple concessions to address concerns around cost and potential duplication, Councillors Jenvey, McWilliam, Vance, and Mayor Lee voted it down.

This resulted in a 4-4 deadlock and the Mayor used his casting vote to defeat the strategy.

The excuse given – that it would be a “waste of ratepayers’ money”.

This is a stunningly short-sighted view.

The costs of the lack of childcare are immense.

Regional Development Australia estimates that the lack of childcare in the Mid North Coast region costs families an estimated $384 million a year in lost wages.

Nambucca Heads mother-of-two Holly Quin told the council it had cost her family alone an estimated $40,000 in lost wages over a year.

The impacts are not just economic.

Recent research from the University of New England suggests that childcare is a key determinant of health, and childcare deserts can increase developmental risks for children and mental health struggles for parents.

The lack of childcare unequally impacts women.

In my placement as a social work student, I’ve seen high school students who were forced to miss school to care for younger relatives while their parents worked to keep a roof over their heads.

Is this not a “waste” of our young people’s potential?

Other councils understand that childcare is essential infrastructure, and nearly half of NSW councils operate childcare centres because they are “the provider of last resort”.

Council-run services provide consistently higher quality care than for-profit providers and support vulnerable families that are often turned away by the private market.

The Council’s own Operational Plan promises to “explore long term solutions” for affordable childcare.

Yet that commitment remains unfunded and, according to internal staff, the Council lacks the internal resources to enable it to be fulfilled.

Council cannot hide behind “lack of resources” when they refuse to even fund the analysis required to get those resources.

We need our councillors Jenvey, McWilliam, Vance, and Mayor Lee to start treating this like the crisis this is. Instead they have chosen to leave working families stranded in a childcare desert.

Regards,
Lani GREENHALGH,
Way Way.