A Victoria University study has shown more childcare facilities are needed

The Mitchell Institute for Education and Health Policy at Victoria University undertook a study recently to see just how accessible childcare was in Australia and they discovered some alarming results.

The Mitchell Institute recently released a report of their findings which shows some shortcomings, especially in Dubbo. In the report, Dubbo is classified as 'inner regional Australia' which shares some similarities to the larger cities in terms of childcare accessibility.

According to the data collected, the Dubbo region currently sits at 0.312 childcare places per child, while Wellington is even lower at 0.173 places per child.

Narromine splits both towns in the study, sitting at 0.235 places per child.

"The evidence is overwhelming on the impact of good quality early learning in fuelling children's development and giving them a great start in life," the report stated.

"That's why this Australian-first analysis of childcare accessibility mapped against children aged 0 to 4 years is so critical - and its findings are stark."

There are many areas in Inner regional Australia where there is no childcare at all while there is a widespread average of 0.35 childcare places per child.

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On top of this, 44.6 per cent of the Inner regional Australia population live in a childcare desert while the figure is at 61.3 per cent of Outer regional Australia respectively.

Childcare deserts are places where there is less than 0.333 childcare places per child or more than three children per place, often these places are in regional or remote areas.

The report also stated families in regional and remote areas, are the most at risk of suffering from poor access to childcare.

"About 568,700 children aged 0 to 4 years, or 36.5 per cent of children in this age group, live in neighbourhoods we classify as a childcare desert," the report stated.

For regional areas, the study measured 20 minutes of travel time to determine accessibility.

Roughly 1.1 million Australians live in rural and remote areas of the country where the is no access to childcare at all.

Of places in the Central West, Forbes and Condobolin are seemingly have the most childcare available with both places well above 0.600 per place per child.

NSW also ranks below Victoria, Queensland and the ACT in the same statistics.

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