Survey launches to make Central Western Queensland’s “invisible” childcare need count
A region-wide survey opens this week across Central Western Queensland, giving families the chance to put on the record a childcare shortage that national data cannot see.
The Regional Childcare Access Survey, a joint initiative of the RAPAD ECEC Alliance and The Future Care Project, asks parents and carers across the RAPAD region including Barcaldine, Barcoo, Blackall-Tambo, Boulia Shire Council, Diamantina, Longreach and Winton, a simple question with significant consequences: what childcare does your family actually need, what do they current use and what is the gap costing you?
The survey responds to a structural blind spot in the way childcare is planned and funded. National demand modelling counts children enrolled with an approved, subsidised service, roughly one million of the two million children aged 0 to 5 nationally. Families relying on grandparents, nannies or a parent who has left work because no service exists simply do not appear in the data.
“In communities with no approved service at all, families are invisible to the very system meant to plan for them,” said Angela Cochrane, Founder and Director of The Future Care Project. “Supply absence is being read as demand absence. When there’s no service, there’s no waitlist and no waitlist means no recorded need, so the funding never comes. This survey breaks that cycle with evidence straight from these rural and remote communities.”
RAPAD Chair and Longreach Mayor, Tony Rayner said the launch followed the inaugural RAPAD ECEC Action Forum hosted in Longreach in May 2026.
“We had a strong response to our inaugural action forum where more than 65 families, educators, providers, councils and peak bodies independently identified the same structural barriers. From the forum we know this points to a policy problem, not a local one and we’re ready to take the next step.”
Rachael Webster, Senior Project Coordinator with RAPAD said: “Partnering in the survey will provide a community verified evidence base moving into the follow-up Blackall Action Forum on 3–4 August 2026.”
“The information from the survey will be valuable to our communities as we drive our advocacy efforts for fit for purpose childcare policy to meet the needs of regional families and providers. This is a key focus of the RAPAD ECEC Alliance and will empower our councils’ actions into the future and help drive change for all rural, regional and remote communities.”
What the survey captures
The survey records what official datasets miss: unmet demand, reliance on informal care, the workforce participation lost to access gaps and the income and community contribution families forgo when care cannot be found. Responses are confidential and reported only as combined totals.
“This is about turning lived experience into numbers that government cannot ignore,” Ms Cochrane said.
What families need to know
- The survey takes around ten minutes to complete.
- It is open to any parent or carer in the RAPAD region with children aged 0 to 12.
- Responses are confidential and reported only as combined totals.
- Data collection closes at the end of 25 July 2026, ahead of the Blackall Action Forum.
The survey can be completed at: https://thefuturecareproject.org.au/survey
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Media contact
Angela Cochrane | Founder and Director – The Future Care Project
hello@thefuturecareproject.com.au
0413 030 833
www.thefuturecareproject.org.au
The Future Care Project is an independent, community-led not-for-profit working for equitable childcare planning and funding across regional, rural and remote Australia. Its mission is to ensure that fit-for-purpose policy and the investment that follows reach the communities current data renders invisible, because access to childcare should never depend on your postcode.
RAPAD media contact
Aleisha Domrow | RAPAD Communications
0423 116 865
About the RAPAD ECEC Alliance The RAPAD ECEC Alliance brings together councils and communities across the Remote Area Planning and Development (RAPAD) shires of Central Western Queensland to advocate for fit-for-purpose early childhood education and care. Find out more.