In response to an announcement that the state government will shut down several childcare services due to safety concerns, Local Government NSW is renewing calls for greater support for council-run early learning centres.

LGNSW president mayor Darcy Byrne said councils provide more than 300 early childhood education and care services across NSW and had a vastly superior record of safe and high quality services in comparison to private and for-profit centres.

“Increasing support for safe and highly regulated council run childcare can be an antidote to the growing crisis in childcare safety,” said mayor Byrne.

“Each month there are new revelations about safety risks to children in early learning centres; overwhelmingly these are being discovered in for-profit and private centres.”

“Local government is one of the largest early education providers in the country, often providing a service in childcare ‘deserts’ – communities in desperate need where other providers have exited the market,” he said.

“Without more NSW government support for council-run centres, there’s a real risk that families simply won’t have access to a safe and affordable service for their children,” he said.

“Councils in NSW have consistently demonstrated a strong record of providing safe and more affordable services for families,” mayor Byrne said.

Figures from a 2025 report by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, show that a greater proportion of Council-run ECEC services exceed the National Quality Standards than for-profit services. Specifically, 42 per cent of state/territory and local government managed services are rated as “exceeding” the National Quality Standards compared to 11 per cent for private for profit services.

“We call on the NSW and Australian governments to set up a dedicated local government funding stream in recognition of councils’ significant role and status in the early education and care sector,” mayor Byrne said.

“All governments have a role in ensuring early childhood education is high quality, sets children up for successful lifelong learning, contributes to their development and supports family wellbeing,” said mayor Byrne.

“I’m proud of the role that councils are playing for families and we need to see state and federal governments fund the growth of the safest and highest quality part of the sector to ensure children are protected.”