Queensland has an abundance of childcare places, new Federal Government figures show. And industry groups fear the number of vacancies will increase with the introduction of the compulsory Prep year in schools, making some providers unprofitable.
Figures obtained from Minister for Family Services Mal Brough showed 147,461 vacancies in Queensland across a five-day period in December despite community concern over lack of availability and affordability.
But the Opposition has accused the Government of misleading parents by failing to break down the figures geographically and into age categories.
The figures show the highest number of vacancies are on Mondays and Fridays. There also are about 27,000 places free from Tuesday to Thursday. The vacancies include all formal child care, including long day care, family day care, outside hours school care and occasional care.
Childcare Queensland President, Gwynn Bridge said the Industry had concerns about an over-supply of places in the past three to four years.
She said the Industry was now waiting “with bated breath” to see the impact of students entering Prep across the state this year.
“We’ve been telling the Government about this for years,” she said.
“There is probably only an under-supply in the 0-2 babies (age group) in childcare centres in some areas.
“It’s becoming quite critical. A lot of people invest a lot of money into childcare centres but they can’t fill them.”
She said current “occupancy rates” were about 70 per cent, less than was needed for businesses to break even.
Family Day Care Association executive manager, Jan Birch said supply and demand varied across geographical areas, with inner-city and rural regions most likely to suffer a shortage in places.
A spokesman for Mr Brough said the data collection was vital for parents to determine their childcare options.
The Government would spend $72 million on a management system to map out child care supply for the future. Child care was expected to cost taxpayers $10 billion over the next four years.
Opposition Family Services spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the industry remained in crisis and the Government was misleading parents.
She said they needed to know now if their children would get a childcare place before they returned to work for the new year.
“There’s no point being told there’s a childcare place available on Monday, if you need a place on Wednesday and there’s certainly no point being told you can have an after-hours school place if you have a baby that needs long day care,” she said.
