When her two little girls were born, Estelle Carter made a promise to give them the best start in life.
But the Anmatjere woman has had to stand by helplessly and watch that dream dissolve before her eyes.
"Our kids are still starting with that big gap, a massive gap," she said.
"It's just so unfair."
Ms Carter lives in the remote central Australian desert town of Ti Tree, 200 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
With a population of about 90, it is a key service town for more than 1,000 people in surrounding Aboriginal communities.
But despite local mothers fighting for more than 12 years, Ti Tree has no childcare services.
"It just feels like our children are restricted to the rest of the nation," Ms Carter said.
Ripple effects
The issue has impacted the entire town as families on single wages struggle to make ends meet and businesses cry out for workers.
Children are falling behind before they even make it to school and relationships are being impacted.
"My husband had to change to night patrol — I do the day shift, he does the night shift," Ms Carter said.
"We were like ships in the night.
"Often our backup in community is our nanas, but they need their own respite in the day — they're not lively enough to be chasing around young ones."
Parents – mostly mothers – are also being forced to give up their goals of work and study.
"For our women to empower their lives and stand up and make our community stronger, we need this little resource here, we need a childcare," Ms Carter said.
"And it just doesn't happen here, we don't get any of them promises delivered here in Ti Tree, and we're tired."
Childcare deserts
Nine million Australians are estimated to live in neighbourhoods classified as "childcare deserts" — populated areas with more than three children per childcare place, or less than 0.333 places per child aged four or under.
With zero places per child, Ti Tree is among those communities most desperately in need.
Catherine Liddle is chief executive at SNAICC, Australia's national non-government peak body representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.
She said some Ti Tree parents were travelling the full two hours to Alice Springs to access care for their children.
"I don't even want to think about what the impact is," Ms Liddle said.
"You're not only having to find accommodation for yourself in town, you're also having to pay for fuel, and if you have other children you're leaving them behind."
Ms Liddle said research consistently showed the significant benefits of early childhood education.
"Children and families are less likely to come into contact with tertiary interventions, such as child protection and even the judicial system," she said.
Ms Liddle said research also showed regional and remote areas – particularly Aboriginal communities – were most likely to lack adequate childcare services.
She claimed the funding model for the sector was all about "creating markets" rather than serving communities.
"They're largely revolved around a service delivery model that's about getting more middle class families into the work environment, as opposed to how we look at it — as something that is vital for everyone," Ms Liddle said.
Committee hears from communities
The Ti Tree community's story is just one of many which was recently submitted to the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care.
The committee has been established to investigate how systems across the nation can be improved to help Australians balance work and care commitments, including child care.
Committee chair Barbara Pocock said the hearing had revealed a system that was "fraying at the edges".
"The picture that's emerging is one of economic cost, but also of pressure and stress for people who are needing care, and also for those who are trying to put together the job and care," the Greens Senator said.
"We really have slipped and we need to catch up if we want to be a country that thrives."
The committee will release an interim report by October 18, with a final report to be issued in February next year.
As for what happens after that, Senator Pocock said that would be up to the individual senators on the committee and the parliament that received the report.
"For me, I feel like there are years of work ahead," she said.
But for mothers like Ms Carter change cannot come soon enough.
"We're sick of talking," she said.
"We want some action."
