‘I have the kids all the time’: the struggle to find affordable childcare in the bush

Current childcare funding model does not work for many families in rural and regional Australia, a new report has found

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Katherine Durant lives in the town of Rainbow, population 600, in Victoria's north-west. Durant's husband, a fourth-generation Mallee farmer, runs a 6,000 acre sheep and dryland cropping operation while she stays home with their two young boys. The days are long, and the nights can be longer.

Ben usually works seven days a week, and during cropping and harvest times it is not unusual for the boys to not see him for days on end," Durant said. For several months a year I solo parent, while trying to keep all the other balls I'm juggling in the air as well.

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