The Future Care Project

02/06/2026

Goondiwindi District & Family Day Care

The Albanese Labor Government has launched a new grant opportunity to support In Home Care services in early learning.In Home Care is an important form of approved Child Care Subsidy care where an educator provides care in a child's home.In Home Care is available to families who can't access other t...

29/05/2026

28/05/2026

Last week, RAPAD hosted its inaugural Rural, Regional and Remote Early Childhood Education and Care Action Forum in Longreach and it was a privilege to facilitate this event. It brought together more than 65 families, educators, providers, councils and peak bodies, in person and online, across seven local government areas and beyond.

What stayed with me wasn’t the statistics. It was the people: the mother on a station paying an elderly relative to mind her children because no other care exists. The educator who loved the work but was quietly worn, exhausted by so many unpaid hours. The provider who ran a family daycare service for decades, then watched the funding settings make it impossible to continue.

Much of this care is completely invisible to the current goverment data sets that determine funding and support - au pairs, nannies, grandparents, neighbours. Families lean on these arrangements because formal, CCS eligible, options aren’t available. And because that care is never counted, demand on paper, looks like zero. This is one of the reason we see childcare deserts expanding in rural and remote areas year on year.

And the current national reforms? They might come from good intentions, but those intentions aren’t reaching us.

The Three-Day Guarantee strengthens what families are entitled to, not what they can actually access and you cannot subsidise your way to a service that doesn’t exist.

Over two days, one thing became clear: many of us have been advocating alone, not realising we were all reaching for the same thing. That changes now, our voice is far stronger together.

If you believe in fairer, equatable access to childcare that should not depend on where you live, then we would love to hear from you!

27/05/2026

The Future Care Project has spent two years building the evidence base for childcare reform in regional, rural and remote Australia, entirely self-funded and this model has finally reached its limit.

We're now community-fundraising to continue independent, on-the-ground work that government datasets consistently miss. If closing the regional childcare gap is in your remit or your values, I'd value your support or a share.

Ive found where the problem actually sits: government datasets don't see our communities, so the funding skips us and the gap only widens the longer it's ignored and I've designed as way to fix this.

I've attended dozens of government and ministerial meetings and forums as the only representative at the table for regional, rural and remote communities. I've submitted federal budget analysis, policy reference documents and submissions that have been read in Canberra, including an attendance at the Senate Inquiries on the Quality and Safely of the Childcare Sector.

I've designed a training program that puts local people on a path into early-childhood work and I've fought to drag this out of the "women's issue" box and name it for what it is: an economic one, that hits not just our town but all regional Australia.

I have always said regional communities should be resourced, not rescued. That is exactly what this is. I am not asking to be saved. I am asking to be funded to keep doing work that already works, for the good of everyone who wants a better future for regional Australia.

If you want to know more about the work im doing, please reach out. There is far more to this story than fits on one page and so much opportunity ahead of us.

Right now, I just need help keeping the lights on as we grow and with your help I promise the future of regional childcare is bright.

In a town like Goondiwindi, a family can wait years for a childcare place … Angela Cochrane needs your support for Help Keep Regional Childcare Advocacy Alive

26/05/2026

One of the greatest challenges of our generation is happening right now, are you ready for what comes next?

Rural families are being left behind, year after year, are you ready to fight with them?

A mum raising her kids without support, without any options, without hope that anything will change. Are you ready to stand beside her and tell her she is not alone?

A child born in the bush deserves the same future as a child born anywhere else in Australia, are you ready to say you believe this is true?

That’s what we stand for, that’s where we need to stand united, will you stand with us and fight for real change?

Because together we are stronger, together we can be the change, together we can build a better future for us all.

23/05/2026

22/05/2026

🪁 RAPAD Action Forum draws strong regional response

More than 60 people were part of a Rural, Regional and Remote Early Childhood Education and Care Action Forum in Longreach and online this week, focussed on identifying practical solutions to improve access to early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The strong response to the forum, delivered by the Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD) highlighted both the urgency of the issue and the appetite for coordinated regional action.

Longreach Region Mayor and Chair of RAPAD, Tony Rayner said the forum created an important opportunity for communities and stakeholders to come together around shared ECEC challenges and solutions.

“I was pleased to take part in discussions and welcome this diverse cohort to Longreach which included great representation across the region and beyond, travelling to join in person, or connecting online.”

Mayor Rayner said the Forum had been the culmination of around 18 months of targeted work by RAPAD and councils to actively address childcare challenges from a regional perspective including delivering a foundational regional review, facilitating online workshops and growing industry networks.

“The Forum is a great step for our newly formed RAPAD ECEC Alliance of Councils as we work together to identify locally-relevant solutions and drive our planning and advocacy further.

“For rural and remote communities, we know the value and impact of collective effort and recognise these issues don’t just affect our region.

“The Alliance has been fortunate to work alongside our forum facilitator Angela Cochrane from The Future Care Project, a regional social enterprise focused on community-led ECEC initiatives and advocacy.

“We all have doors opened in various areas, so to come together just adds more runs on the board,” he said.

RAPAD Senior Project Coordinator Rachael Webster said the forum emphasised the link between access to ECEC services, workforce participation and the development of the region.

“What stood out across every region was the consistency in what people are experiencing - the barriers families face, the gaps in services and workforce, and the innovative ways communities are trying to respond,” Ms Webster said.

“Across the two days, we had local families, carers, educators, councils, providers and organisations voices, openly sharing what is happening on the ground and what they believe could work better.”

Ms Webster said councils were asked to examine the current childcare landscape in their shires, including local infrastructure, workforce challenges, data, engagement with government and the long-term impacts if the childcare gap is not addressed.

“Importantly, the forum also moved beyond identifying problems and focused on what role communities, councils and organisations are willing to play moving forward,” she said.

“The Longreach forum is the first in a connected series a follow-up Action Forum in Blackall on 3–4 August 2026. Insights from the Longreach discussions will also be shared publicly.

Thank you to everyone who joined us online, in person, or who contributed offline - for more information and to register for the Blackall action forum visit: https://ececactionforum.rapad.com.au

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Barcaldine Regional Council Blackall-Tambo Regional Council Boulia Shire Council Barcoo Shire Council Diamantina Shire Council Longreach Regional Council Winton Shire Council Tony Rayner Dale Bignell Councillor Longreach Regional council.

20/05/2026

For Matilda Pearce, a school day might involve online classes in an outback farmhouse, doing maths in a paddock, practising spelling words in the car or reading a book on the long trip to town.

20/05/2026

Over the past two days, more than 65 people came together at the RAPAD Regional, Rural and Remote ECEC Forum to do something our communities have been waiting a long time for: tell the honest truth about what a lack of access to childcare in remote Queensland is costing our communities and the resolve to not leave without a tangible list of solutions and a clear pathway forward.

We did not shy away from the realities. We named them. The shortages. The missing data. The families pushed into informal arrangements because no formal care exists. The educators leaving the sector. The funding announcements that sound transformative but never reach us. The grants that pass us by. The workforce settings that lock out some of the very best people. The In-Home Care and Family Day Care models, designed for communities like ours, being eroded by policy that was never built with us in mind.

But what stood out, what I will carry home with me, was how quickly the conversation about the barriers turned to instant collaboration, to finding ways to share expertise and support one another. From every corner of the room, from every cohort, came the same message: one-size-fits-all policy will never serve our remote communities and that fit-for-purpose, region-led solutions are possible and we are ready to act!

The answers are here.
The expertise is here.
The will is here.

Now its time for Action 🔥🔥