INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA STARTS LONG BEFORE SCHOOL, NEW REPORT FINDS

The report, which describes what OECD countries are doing – or not doing – to ensure equitable access to early learning and childcare services for all children and parents, backs Australian experts’ arguments that public investment is crucial. 

A new report finds inequality in Australia starts long before children start school. 

The report, which describes what OECD countries are doing – or not doing – to ensure equitable access to early learning and childcare services for all children and parents, backs Australian experts’ arguments that public investment is crucial. 

CEO of The Parenthood, Georgie Dent, said the report underscored the profound need for truly universal early childhood education and care for children and parents.  

“The vast majority of early childhood education and care in Australia is privately owned, and this report encapsulates why access to early learning services in Australia is so inconsistent, inequitable, and a total postcode lottery,” said Ms Dent. 

“The current system incentivises providers to set up in areas where there’s money, rather than where there’s need, and the consequence of this is felt by families from lower-income or less populated regional, rural and remote areas.

“We desperately need to invest in making childcare accessible for all children, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas. Labor’s recently announced $1billion fund for childcare deserts is a good start.”

In 2024, research from The Mitchell Institute found that 24 per cent of Australian children live in a “childcare desert”, where three or more children compete for a place. It found that the best access in Australia is enjoyed in inner city, wealthy suburbs, while childcare deserts exist largely in outer suburban, regional, rural and remote areas.

“Young parents are bearing some of the worst of the cost-of-living crisis, and as our ‘IMPACTFUL’ report highlighted, the lack of early learning services in the regions only makes this worse. Entire communities suffer as a result. 

“Ahead of the federal election, all parties must commit to investing in making early childhood education and care accessible across Australia for the benefit of children, parents, towns, workforces and nationwide productivity,” said Ms Dent.