Are we allowed to call it a 'crisis yet?"

As any Mum in rural and regional Australia and they can tell you stress and the cost of not having access to reliable childcare.

Rural women are waiting months if they are 'lucky', but it is not unusual now to wait years for a place in childcare. The Parenthood has released a report, called "Choiceless" which sheds light on the difficult experiences more than 150 women around the country have had.

According to the report about 450 towns with a population under 3, 000 do not have centre based daycare.

This is affecting the careers of women in the country and also the development of children, who aren't always school-ready by the age they should be. The housing crisis and labour shortage is directly linked to the lack of childcare options too, yet you don't hear about it in the media, nearly as much. So we are.

Hear from:

• Tara Rich - Mother and Communications Professional, who has spent nearly a decade looking for suitable childcare for her family.
  
  
• Maddy Butler - Campaign Director at the Parenthood, who is advocating for the Federal Government to better fund a multi-level approach to improving childcare options.

There's no single solution to this. It's complex, but the Parenthood is arguing for a National Workforce Strategy to boost childcare educator numbers in rural and regional Australia.

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