Kimberley services running at less than 70 per cent because of workforce shortages

A lack of early childhood education and care (ECEC) workers in the Kimberley region of north west WA has led to some services closing while others are operating at less than 70 per cent creating an “economic bottleneck” where other businesses and community services cannot function.

The challenges and their impact has been well documented in a new report from the Kimberley Development Commission (KDC) which shows that WA’s north-west is one of the hardest places to secure ECEC in Australia, with parents seeking to return to work unable to do so.

Despite high demand, the report found centres were collectively running at 69 per cent capacity, with low wages, lack of affordable housing and high attrition rates driving staff shortages. The result, KDC head Chuck Berger said, was that accessing ECEC in the Kimberley has become significantly harder than metro areas, with high demand creating long wait lists. 

Alarmingly, the report found there were no formal ECEC facilities in any of the 74 remote communities in the Kimberley, except a long-running centre in Warmun, meaning that the families of approximately 697 children between birth and four years of age and 1,152 children aged between 5-12 years of age have no access to centre-based ECEC. 

To illustrate the possibilities available to services, the report used case studies of ECEC centres in the Kimberley that are “bucking the staff shortage trend,” by providing training and development as well as employing long-time locals.

Read Childcare in the Kimberley here.