Almost one in three kids across Western Australia's largest electorate are starting pre-primary school at a disadvantage compared to metropolitan centres, a study has found.
Victoria University's Mitchell Institute looked at early developmental indicators such as language and social skills and found children in the federal electorate of Durack, which covers all of northern WA, had the worst outcomes in the state.
According to the report, which analysed data from the Australian Early Development Census, 28 per cent of children in Durack were underperforming at a pre-primary level, while 91.9 per cent of the electorate was considered a childcare desert.
Mitchell Institute education policy fellow Hannah Matthews co-authored the report and said a lack of childcare in the state's north had contributed to poorer developmental outcomes.
"What we know is when children start school developmentally vulnerable, or behind, it's really difficult to then make up those achievement gaps as children go through school."
The report found Durack also had the fourth lowest rate of available childcare in the nation.
Regional children most at risk
Ms Matthews said the lack of affordable childcare made it hard for working parents, especially women.
She said a lack of childcare access created domestic and financial pressures that could negatively affect childhood development.
"Usually it's mothers that are the primary caregivers and when they look to return to work they can't as there's no care available or affordable for their young children," Ms Matthews said.
"Childcare is really difficult to access, [so] then parents need to think about how far they're willing to work, how long they're willing to get in the car and drive to be able to access childcare, and how flexible their employers are."
Ms Matthews said widespread staff shortages were worse in regional areas and believed childcare should receive more federal funding and rely less on the standard business model.
"We also know that there is a shortage of people who work in this field at the moment and there are ongoing issues with attracting and retaining people who work in early childhood education and care and that really hasn't been addressed yet," she said.
"If we move away from childcare centres relying on clients and move towards the government-funding childcare as they do public schools, some of these issues would be solved."
