By Bronwyn Hastings

Yarriambiack Shire Mayor Andrew McLean and Member for Mildura Jade Benham are demanding the State Government deliver a solution to Hopetoun’s early years services’ ‘crisis’.

Following the closure of the Hopetoun childcare service in April 2024 due to provider Uniting Vic Tas’ workforce shortages, the council worked with Emerge Early Years Services to establish a sustainable integrated model that would deliver both kindergarten and long daycare services from the one facility. 

Kindergarten services transitioned to Emerge by 2025, with staff successfully recruited to restart childcare in 2026. But the centre closed after a burst water pipe caused structural damage and mould, discovered in May last year.

Cr McLean said the situation was ‘completely unacceptable’ and a failure of government to properly support rural communities.

“For more than two years, Hopetoun families have been without a childcare service, and now they are being told they could wait another two years before a permanent early years’ facility is available. That is simply unacceptable,” he said. 

“Rural families deserve access to the same essential services as metropolitan communities. The Victorian government cannot continue to talk about supporting regional Victoria while allowing communities like Hopetoun to go without the basic infrastructure needed to support children and working families.”

Engineering assessments confirmed the site required extensive remediation and stabilisation works. 

While kindergarten programs have temporarily relocated to Hopetoun Senior Citizens Building, Cr McLean said the shared arrangement was far from ideal, and still left the town without a childcare service. 

He said the council was deeply disappointed to learn the Department of Education had advised there were no relocatable facilities available and that investment in an alternative solution was not currently under consideration. 

“Frankly, I am outraged that a rural community can be left in this position,” he said. 

“It is unacceptable that our children, teachers and educators are expected to operate a kindergarten program from the senior citizens’ building for up to two years. While the Department of Education may see this as a temporary solution, it simply shifts the problem onto another valued community group. 

“Our senior citizens also deserve better than having their facility used as a long-term substitute for proper early years infrastructure. 

“The Victorian government’s Best Start, Best Life reforms promise better access to early childhood education and care, yet our families are being told to wait years for a solution. That is not equity, and it is not good enough.” 

Ms Benham, whose electorate extends south to Hopetoun, raised the matter in Parliament last week, asking Children’s Minister Lizzie Blandthorn for a solution to the escalating early years crisis facing Hopetoun families.

“Twenty-seven children are enrolled in kindergarten this year, while 15 families have expressed interest in childcare,” she said. 

“Kindergarten is now operating from the senior citizens building, which is not fit for purpose, not safe and displaces older residents as well.

“This temporary arrangement cannot accommodate the childcare. The Department of Education has advised that no relocatable building is available and that a $2.5-million rebuild is just not justified – because country kids do not matter.

“Well, they do. They have offered funding to make the seniors’ building suitable for kindergarten services, but that displaces our seniors – it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Cr McLean said the ongoing absence of childcare would have far-reaching consequences for workforce participation, local business attraction and retention, and the long-term sustainability of the community. 

“When parents can’t access childcare, they can’t participate fully in the workforce,” he said.

“Employers struggle to recruit and retain staff, and when substandard kindergarten facilities are on offer, young families begin looking elsewhere. The ripple effects from these situations are profound.

“We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fair treatment and the same level of commitment that has been shown to other regional communities.” 

Cr McLean said the council was calling on the government to urgently commit to delivering a new integrated early years’ facility, with kindergarten and long daycare for Hopetoun, either through the development of a facility on Hopetoun P-12 College site or by funding the demolition and reconstruction of an early years’ facility on council-owned land, supplemented by council’s insurance proceeds. 

“Our children cannot wait another two years,” he said. 

“The government must step up, honour its commitment, and deliver the modern early years’ facility that Hopetoun families deserve.”

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