Childcare
The Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands rely on working families to staff essential services, businesses and industries, yet childcare access remains a major barrier to workforce participation. Childcare is critical economic infrastructure and an enabler to increased women in our local workforce. Without it, new housing will not translate into workforce supply. Childcare planning must be integrated with housing delivery and employment precinct growth
OUR CURRENT ADVOCACY AGENDA
In February 2026, Business Illawarra released our Homes for Workers 2026 Policy, highlighting childcare as a critical barrier to women's participation in the local workforce.
NSW SHOULD:
- Formally recognise childcare as critical economic infrastructure within housing, transport and precinct planning, ensuring workforce participation is embedded in growth decisions.
- Require childcare to be planned and co‑located within new housing developments and major employment precincts to support working families and local jobs.
- Mandate co‑located childcare in NSW social infrastructure planning, including social housing precincts and major NSW jobs precincts such as hospital upgrades and large government facilities where workforce demand is significant.
- Provide targeted incentives to support businesses and landowners in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands to deliver childcare in priority precincts.
- Fast track childcare on NSW Government land, prioritising co location on school sites through streamlined approvals and coordinated cross agency support
What's the Problem?
- Despite an overall increase in childcare places, over 70% of the population is residing in a “childcare desert”, which is an area that has approximately three times as many children (aged 0-4) to centre-based childcare places.
- There is a high demand for childcare in the region which has resulted in some people across the Illawarra Shoalhaven area paying above the childcare hourly fee cap to obtain childcare.
- Over the last 5 years, the number of women (25-44 yrs.) in employment has almost doubled in the Southern Highlands Shoalhaven Statistical Area[1] 4 (SA4), placing additional demand on childcare availability
- Approximately 2,000 new key workers are required across the redeveloped Shoalhaven and Shellharbour Hospitals.
- Attracting and retaining childcare educators is impacting the number of childcare places available across the Illawarra Shoalhaven area
- Job vacancies for the sector have increased significantly over the past 5 years
BACKGROUND ADVOCACY - INVESTOR TOOLKIT
In 2025, Business Illawarra was proud to support the launch of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) colocation toolkit!
The NSW Government partnered with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation of Councils, Business Illawarra, local councils and industry providers including Big Fat Smile and ECTARC to create a new toolkit to help boost early learning supply in the Illawarra. This newly released toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to the process, benefits and key considerations to embedding early childhood education and care in new and existing developments such as work, residential or community spaces.
About the Toolkit
The ECEC Co-location Toolkit is a practical resource for developers, businesses, and ECEC providers to assess the benefits, feasibility, and steps for co-locating ECEC services within mixed-use developments, large workplaces, or greenfield sites. It is location-agnostic and being piloted in the Illawarra Shoalhaven.
Why it’s needed:
There is a significant shortage of ECEC availability in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, especially for the 0–2 year cohort, with long waitlists. Colocation is an under-utilised opportunity to increase supply, support workforce retention, and attract workers in industries like health services.
MEDIA Updates
Premier’s Department - Media Release 19 January
Illawarra Mercury, 23 Jan 2026
Illawarra Mercury, 23 Jan 2025