Open a long day care centre — New South Wales

Three tiers of government, each with a gate. The Commonwealth expanded demand on a fixed date; supply passes through a council development consent and two state approvals, on no particular timetable.

childcareA purpose-built long day care centre of about 100 places on a site in a residential or mixed-use zone skeleton compare across jurisdictions

This is a structural skeleton, not a measured process. The steps, the authorities and the sequence are researched from this jurisdiction's published requirements and are broadly right. The durations are a uniform template applied across all jurisdictions, so the differences between them on the comparison page are mostly an artefact of that template rather than evidence about Australia. Do not quote the day counts. Replacing them with sourced figures for even one jurisdiction would make this page genuinely useful.

1000 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

16 discrete steps
across 4 bodies

10% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

180 days saved by concurrency
vs. 1180 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

applicant	589d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
assessment	285d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
queue	60d	Waiting behind unrelated work in a backlog.
scheduling	45d	Waiting for a person or committee to become available.
statutory	21d	A legislated period that must elapse regardless of readiness.

105 of 1000 elapsed days are spent waiting for a person or a meeting rather than for a judgement to be formed. Removing that time changes no assessment standard and lowers no bar -- it is the cost of scheduling alone.

The process, step by step

Applies when: A provider seeks to build and operate a new centre-based education and care service.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Site selection, feasibility and design application Find a site that is zoned for the use, will fit the required indoor and outdoor space per place, and can be serviced by parking and access.	—	applicant	—	180 estimate	—
2	Acoustic, traffic and plan of management reports application Noise assessment of children at play, traffic and parking assessment, and an operational plan of management. after Site selection, feasibility and design 730d slack	—	applicant	—	90 estimate	—
3	Lodge the development application application after Acoustic, traffic and plan of management reports 725d slack	Consent authority (NSW council)	applicant	—	5 estimate	Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW)
4	Neighbour notification and submissions notification after Lodge the development application 704d slack	Consent authority (NSW council)	statutory	14	21 estimate	—
5	Council assessment assessment Assessment against the planning controls and the applicable child care planning guideline. after Neighbour notification and submissions 584d slack	Consent authority (NSW council)	assessment	—	120 estimate	—
6	Determination decision after Council assessment 539d slack	Consent authority (NSW council)	scheduling	—	45 estimate	—
7	Merits appeal to the Land and Environment Court appeal only if triggered Where consent is refused, the applicant may seek review on the merits. Triggered when: The application is refused, or deemed refused. after Determination 239d slack	—	queue	—	300 estimate	—
8	Construction certificate certification after Determination 494d slack	Registered certifier (NSW)	assessment	—	45 estimate	—
9	Construction and fit-out application after Construction certificate 194d slack	—	applicant	—	300 estimate	—
10	Occupation certificate certification after Construction and fit-out 164d slack	Registered certifier (NSW)	assessment	—	30 estimate	—
11	Provider approval registration Assessment of whether the provider is fit and proper to operate an education and care service. after Determination 479d slack	NSW Early Childhood Education regulatory authority	assessment	60	60 legislated	Education and Care Services National Law
12	Service approval registration Assessment of the specific premises, including layout, space, fencing, and the nominated supervisor. after Occupation certificate, Provider approval 74d slack	NSW Early Childhood Education regulatory authority	assessment	90	90 legislated	Education and Care Services National Law
13	Child Care Subsidy provider approval registration Commonwealth approval under Family Assistance Law so that families attending the service can receive the subsidy. after Service approval 14d slack	Department of Education (Commonwealth)	queue	—	60 estimate	A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth)
14	Recruit qualified educators and an early childhood teacher application Meet the qualification and ratio requirements, including the early childhood teacher requirement. after Determination 419d slack	—	third party	—	120 estimate	—
15	Open registration after Child Care Subsidy provider approval, Recruit qualified educators and an early childhood teacher	—	applicant	—	14 estimate	—
16	Assessment and rating against the National Quality Standard assessment only if triggered The regulatory authority assesses and rates the operating service. Triggered when: Scheduled by the regulatory authority after the service commences operating. after Open	NSW Early Childhood Education regulatory authority	queue	—	365 estimate	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

The same body asked more than once

nsw-private-certifier (certification) appears at Construction certificate, Occupation certificate. Could these be a single sign-off?

Proposed changes

Run service approval and Child Care Subsidy approval against the building, not after it parallelise ~120d
A finished, fitted-out, empty childcare centre carrying full finance waits 90 days for service approval and then 60 more for Commonwealth subsidy approval. Most of what both examine is knowable from the approved plans months earlier.
A code-assessable pathway for childcare centres that meet the planning guideline threshold ~120d
Nearly every contested childcare application answers the same three objections — noise, traffic, parking — through the same three consultant disciplines against published guidelines. Where the answers are that standardised, the assessment is already code-shaped.

Sources

Education and Care Services National Law, provider and service approval provisions
ACECQA, Guide to the National Quality Framework, applications and approvals
State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021 (NSW), education and child care provisions
Department of Education (Cth), published guidance on the Child Care Subsidy approval process

Something wrong here?

This page is wrong in some way -- every page like it is. If you have run this process, the most useful thing you can do is tell us which step took longer than we say and why. Edit data/processes/nsw-childcare-centre.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.