The report, compiled by Wimmera Southern Mallee early years project By Five, was presented to 43 community participants in a Zoom call on Thursday, July 29.

Key points highlighted in the presentation were the lack of childcare subsidies for the region and the failure of the market to provide access to parents.

By Five coordinator and Murdoch Children's Institute project manager Rachel Robinson presented the findings at the meeting and said Edenhope, in particular, had an issue of childcare acting as a barrier to workforce participation.

"The big piece of the puzzle is in Edenhope, where some people work in industries where they can't work from home.

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"People like school teachers, nurses, mechanics and farmworkers have some significant issues supporting their participation in the workforce.

"While we were talking about that, we presented some of the downstream impacts of that which are perhaps some of the downstream services would be

"The health service is trying to attract allied health people at Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital and are unable to do that because of a lack of childcare."

Research for the report was compiled over three weeks, with researchers talking to many parents from across Kaniva, Edenhope and Goroke.

The report also built upon earlier work from Federation University, which looked at structural failings in the region.

The report found despite several bodies expressing interest in becoming a managing body for a childcare centre, a long daycare centre in Edenhope would have an operational shortfall of $60,000 to $75,000 per year.

However, Ms Robinson said the operational shortfall figure was entirely theoretical and could vary in practice.

"The operational shortfall is theoretical, we don't know in practice how many people would use the service and therefore how many staff that would need. Using existing facilies would be more cost-effective than trying to build new facilities," she said.

"To me, using the facilities and people that already are there is the best bet to get the price down."

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A statistic presented in the report also showed in West Wimmera Shire, around 25% of children have speech and language issues when they start school.

Despite these findings, Edenhope mother, Danielle Irving, said the presentation highlighted many positive outcomes for the town.

"It was good. There was no silver bullet answer, which we were never expecting," she said.

"They highlighted lots of really positive things like the community involvement, unity and even a body in the community that was willing to manage this childcare.

"Some things were really encouraging; the fact that By Five is going to stand by us and continue to help us gives us hope.

"We have realised that it is a bigger obstacle than first thought. The fact that it is not financially viable despite us having dozens and dozens of families is really disappointing."

Ms Irving was one of many mothers in Edenhope who penned an open letter to West Wimmera Shire Council mayor Bruce Meyer calling to address the childcare gaps in the town.

Earlier in the year, Edenhope was left with extended daycare options, as its sole provider of the service resigned.

Council has shown interest in seeking an alternative, committing $20,000 in its 2021-22 budget to investigate the provision of sustainable childcare in the town.

By Five presented three options to the conference to address the situation in Edenhope.

One would be to wait for the previous long daycare provider in Edenhope, Uniting Wimmera, to deliver a suitable alternative.

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The second would see the council support community groups to attract funding/explore solutions and attract a provider.

A third would have the council examine the possibility of expanding services in existing licensed premises.

Cr Meyer said the presentation was a 'starting point', as costings had not yet been provided to the council.

"We still haven't got all of our costing presented to us. This was only really a starting point and it did not present any costs," he said.

"There are talks of availability of buildings and talks of people wanting to be the auspicious body but there is nothing confirmed. The presentation was more of a starting point really."

Cr Meyer said the council was also looking for a shire-wide solution to childcare.

"The options were presented, but they were only Edenhope options and we had asked for a shire wide presentation," he said.

"There were people from across the shire involved in the presentation and some were a bit disappointed it was only focused around one centre."

"It is going to take a long, long way to work all of this through. It is not going to be a quick solution."

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