The video – an act of love and desperation – has been viewed thousands of times on social media and shared far and wide but Snowy Valleys Council, which runs the preschool, says it has only received one genuine inquiry about the job and no applications, even after it increased the pay and conditions to “centre director” level, paying up to $43.38 an hour. Now the council says it may have to consider closing the centre permanently.
Lebner said that would be devastating for Khancoban because the preschool brings people together, leads children into the local primary school, and draws new working families into town.
“It would be a huge loss,” she said. “Early childhood really underpins both a community and its local economy, in ways we really don’t give enough respect to.”
She said parents have already had to give up their jobs or cut back their days since the preschool stopped operating six months ago.
Other families have had to hire nannies or drive up to an hour away to access services. Lebner managed to secure one day of care in a nearby town for her three-year-old daughter but otherwise relies on family for childcare so she can run her architecture practice.
Children paint in the garden of the Khancoban Community Preschool.
Loading
Advocacy group The Parenthood has called on the federal government to do more to improve access to early childhood education and care in regional areas and says it should play a greater role in the sector, as it does for other levels of education.
“Essentially the market is set up for metro areas. It’s not set up for regional, remote or rural areas … for an early learning centre to be viable, it needs at least 70 enrolments and that isn’t always possible in regional and remote areas,” campaign director Maddy Butler said.
“The workforce is a major issue … [Workers] are leaving the sector in droves, and it is so often leading to these kinds of closures all across the country.”
The federal government is waiting on a Productivity Commission report into the sector to work out how to improve access to early childhood education and care, due at the end of this month.
Khancoban is nestled in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains.Credit: Sarah Shoard
But a draft report issued in November found childcare will only become more available if workforce challenges are addressed. The government also allocated money in the budget to secure a pay rise for childcare workers.
“The burden shouldn’t be falling on these communities, these poor parents,” Butler said. “On a national level, it needs to be fixed.”
Federal Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly acknowledged the problem facing regional communities and said the government was helping some centres stay open through the Community Child Care Fund, a $600 million program that largely supports services in regional and rural Australia.
“However we know more needs to be done to achieve the quality universal early childhood education and care sector Australian families deserve, supporting children’s learning and development as well as workforce participation in the broader economy. A sustainable early learning workforce is vital to this,” Aly said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.