General News
16 September, 2025
After-school care crisis
FAMILIES with school-aged children face the prospect of no after-school care in Mareeba at the end of October, when the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service at Mareeba Kids Campus closes.
In a notice to parents in late August, the childcare business said it was with “deep regret” that the OSHC service would shut for children aged 6-17 years.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, Mareeba Kids Campus has made the very difficult decision to permanently close our OSHC service at close of business Friday 31st October,” the notice said.
It had recommended parents contact the Mareeba PCYC to make new arrangements. However, parents said when they had contacted the PCYC, they were already full and had a waitlist.
The OSHC closure was the second blow to parents after the campus vacation care for the next school holidays was also cancelled. Parents scrambling for alternative options had also found both the Tolga and Kuranda OSHC services were at capacity.
One parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the closure would have a devastating impact on families, children, local businesses – the whole community
“Many families will face reduced hours, loss of income, and the impossible choice to leave work altogether to look after their kids. This will impact local businesses and their staffing,” the parent said.
“Then there’s the safety. Children are at higher risk of being left unsupervised or placed in unsafe situations.
“Already I’ve heard parents saying, ‘oh well, my kids are going to have to catch the bus home, they’ll just have to wait for an hour until I get home’.
“There’s also the community impact – more kids left roaming around town after school waiting for their parents to finish work puts them at risk, but also places added pressure on the community. The situation is appalling.”
Another parent told The Express they may have to quit their job because there would be nowhere else to send their child after school or during school holidays.
“Not having this service available anymore is going to have a huge impact on my work, as I would have to quit my current job that I love, and try to find something school-friendly, which is rare to find,” the parent said.
“Not having any other service in Mareeba (that has vacancies) is really hard, and there is no babysitting services in Mareeba affordable to look after my child for two hours-plus per day.”
The parents were disappointed at the “very vague” notice they received, and the lack of detail on why the OSHC service was being cancelled. Families deserved an explanation, “so they could help advocate for solutions”.
The lack of detail had sparked speculation over staff and management problems, financial issues or whether there had been other risks leading to the decision.
“Financial reasoning doesn’t add up. The service has clearly had the funding and price increase to support major builds and even a full rebuild,” a parent said.
“We need transparency. How can they have enough to buy property for an OSHC but not enough to keep it running? It does not add up.”
Mareeba Kids Campus chief executive officer Jeanette Sturiale acknowledged the closure had caused upset in the community, and more information could have been provided. However, the notice had been sent at the end of months of “trying to keep the centre service open.”
“It’s been really hard for us,” she said.
“I know there has been a lot of concerned parents, and we empathise with that. But at the same time, we are just not in a situation to change it.
“We are not-for-profit, we are a community-based business, so we’ve done a lot of things over the years with that in mind, but it comes down to, at the end of the day, compliance and risk and staff, and we can’t meet any of those, so we can’t keep opening the doors.
“It’s very disappointing for us but at the same time, we’re in business, and there comes a time when you realise you can’t do it anymore.”
Ms Sturiale said the centre had talked with schools, the council, and had even gone to Brisbane and spoken with the deputy director of education.
“We’ve spent two years, probably three years, speaking to stakeholders... we’ve tried everything. We’ve tried buying blocks of land, renovating buildings, but how do we fund that?”
She said the problems facing the service were not confined to Mareeba, and it was a growing issue across regional towns.
“If you look at the PCYC, other schools, other towns like Tolga and Kuranda, they’re not only full, but no one else is opening up (OHSC services), it’s just not cost-effective,” Ms Sturiale said.
A child up to five costs $140 per day, whereas OSCH care was $40 per day per person.
“Someone has to do something, but we can’t be the ones,” she said.
“Has it upset people? Yes. Has it upset us? Yes.”
