A regional Queensland community is calling for a lifeline with its only childcare centre set to close at the end of the year.
Young families in Quilpie are calling for an experienced operator to step in to prevent essential workers from leaving the region after the centre abruptly decided to close its doors on December 31.
The regional town, located 1000 kilometres west of Brisbane, has a population just shy of 1000 people.
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Mother-of-four and the local hospital's director of nursing Jenna Nunn is among those who are stranded with no daycare options.
"I've got a one-year-old, so I'm returning to work in January," Nunn said.
"It is so heartbreaking, it is just mind boggling that they've pulled out, what do we do now?"
Council and the community were caught off guard when privately-owned operator Mulga Mates only notified them this month.
"They were just highlighting that they were having staff retention issues," Quilpie Shire Council mayor Ben Hall said.
"It isn't a council-run facility, so we are at arm's length from it, so it came as a surprise to us."
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The announcement has sparked fears the closure could trigger an exodus of essential workers from the regional town, a situation which Nunn said would be "catastrophic".
"I was talking to one mum the other day, had to go back to work for three months and now she's had to stop working because there's no daycare options," she said.
Hall estimates that 42 per cent of the community's workforce is made up of working women.
"If we take 42 per cent of those people out of our workforce, it's going to be devastating," he said.
Mums in the community want a city lifeline if a new provider can't be sourced.
The Department of Education will explore introducing a state-delivered kindergarten program.
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The process to find a new childcare provider to take over the existing licence is underway.
"There have been a few providers contacted, to date we have no takers," Hall said.
"We anticipate this may take upwards of 90 days to actually get resolved."
The small community is now sending out an urgent SOS.
"I'm begging someone to please come forward and help us out," Nunn said.
"Please reach out to the council, we will roll out the red carpet to help in any way we can," Hall said.
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