That ICPA (Aust) advocates that the Minister for Education and Minister for Early Childhood Education ensure rural, regional and remote is well consulted and engages with the ECEC commission, with special attention to IHC review and strategic, long term support for rural, regional and remote centres lacking consistent services and experiencing different challenges with childcare, even in centres, to metropolitan Australia.
Families living in rural, regional and remote Australia continue to face significant inequities in accessing reliable, affordable and appropriate Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services. Recently, the Federal Government committed to 3 Day Guarantee with the roll out in remote settings unclear. Similarly, Government support for wage increases for educators was not extended to the In Home Care (IHC) system, overlooking this cohort completely. The establishment of the ECEC Commission aims to strengthen and expand the sector nationally, but the challenges experienced outside metropolitan areas are often fundamentally different and require dedicated consideration.
Many rural and remote communities experience chronic workforce shortages, low population density, limited infrastructure, long travel distances and inconsistent service availability. In some locations, centres operate with reduced hours, cannot maintain staffing ratios, or close intermittently due to workforce constraints. In other areas, there are no centre-based services available at all, leaving families reliant on IHC, mobile services or informal arrangements in order to participate in employment, training and community life.
For geographically isolated families, childcare is not simply a workforce participation issue but an essential service that enables children to access early learning opportunities comparable to those available in metropolitan areas. Current policy settings and funding models are often designed around metropolitan service delivery and do not adequately account for the realities of operating services in small, dispersed or isolated communities where viability and accessibility challenges are significantly greater.
Beyond childcare, ECEC services like playgroups, maternal health and childhood screening, are sporadic, lack coordination and are often absent. The funding for such programs is often short lived, contributing to the lack of continuity, loss of staff, and inability for families to easily know about and access the services. This has contributed to Cunnamulla facing years of continued increase in the number of children entering school developmentally vulnerable in more than one area.
We recognise the importance of the ongoing IHC review and broader ECEC reform process and believe it is essential that rural, regional and remote stakeholders are meaningfully consulted throughout the work of the ECEC Commission. Without direct engagement from families, service providers and communities in isolated areas, there is a risk that future reforms will fail to address the practical barriers faced by geographically isolated children and families.
