Towns across the Euroa electorate have featured heavily in the Mitchell Institute’s latest report into childcare, with towns surrounding Benalla listed as the worst place for childcare in the entire state, while other areas saw some of the biggest decreases in availability.
The Mitchell Institute’s 2024 report, Mapping the deserts: Childcare accessibility in Australia, follows on from their 2020 report which established much of the region as a childcare desert.
In this new report, the Benalla surrounds area, which includes towns such as Baddaginnie, Swanpool, Winton, Tatong, Goorambat, and Devenish, was ranked last across Victoria when it comes to childcare – with zero available places recorded.
Meanwhile, Benalla was ranked 7th for least amount of improvement for childcare access between 2020 and 2024, Seymour was 10th, Euroa was 11th, and Seymour surrounds was 20th.
The Nationals’ Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, said it was crucial that support was provided to these areas as accessibility and availability of childcare was going backwards.
“This report shows that childcare availability in our towns has unfortunately taken an enormous backwards step, despite demand continuing to increase,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Labor cannot manage money and it is our children who pay the price with a lack of access to early education.
“Towns like Seymour are shown as being in significant decline when it comes to availability, yet a lack of urgency from the Allan Labor Government means that it won’t receive a new childcare facility until 2032 at the earliest.
“Meanwhile towns without a single available place have been ignored entirely by this Government, particularly in the towns surrounding Benalla.
“This government has failed to prioritise towns with the greatest need for childcare during the rollout of their new centres, instead choosing to pork barrel in Labor seats.”
Ms Cleeland said that childcare was an essential service for families in smaller regional communities.
“Not having enough available childcare has a massive impact on the future of our smaller towns with many families forced to relocate most of their lives to bigger centres for improved access,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We already have extreme cost of living pressures, as well as a labour crisis – making more childcare options is so important to ensure parents can return to work and alleviate these issues.”
The Mitchell Institute report can be found at: Mapping the deserts: Childcare accessibility in Australia | Victoria University (vu.edu.au)
