A community in Brisbane's south is fighting to stop the closure of the YMCA Acacia Ridge Early Learning Centre, which Y Queensland (formerly YMCA Queensland) plans to shut on Friday (18 December), Brisbane Times reported on Sunday (15 November). No handover to another provider has been agreed.
Parents and staff were notified in mid-October that the centre would close, ending more than 40 years of operation at the community organisation's oldest – and now last standing – childcare centre in the state, the report says.
A Y Queensland spokesperson said the not-for-profit organisation had found it "increasingly challenging" to keep the facility afloat. "The decision to close Acacia Ridge Early Learning Centre was not made lightly," the spokesperson said. "Despite our best efforts, we've reached a point where continuing to operate the centre is no longer viable."
Y Queensland said it had checked for vacancies with nearby childcare centres and emailed families a list of six options in late October. A spokesperson said the organisation would maintain its presence in the suburb through its other community facilities.
Parent Angelina Tila said she continued to send her children to the centre despite moving away from the suburb years ago. "For my family, this centre has never simply been a childcare facility … our relationship with the centre spans decades," she said. Fellow parent Luke McMahon said it took his daughter about five months before she started feeling comfortable at the centre, and another parent said she was struggling to find a kindergarten place with fewer than three months' notice.
Petitions and the Council Lease
Families have launched several petitions with Brisbane City Council and online. A Council ePetition to retain early childhood education and care at the Council-owned site, with Mr McMahon as principal petitioner, closed on Monday (9 November) with 31 signatures. It says the centre on the corner of Mannington Road and Chifley Street has 75 approved places, provides long day care and an approved kindergarten program, and is rated Meeting the National Quality Standard.
The ePetition asks Council, as landowner, to urgently clarify the existing lease position and investigate lawful options for continued care, including assignment of the existing lease or a new lease to a suitably approved provider. A separate Change.org petition to Council and Y Queensland, which says families were told of the closure on 19 October, showed 334 verified signatures on Sunday.
The facility sits on several blocks leased to Y Queensland until 2050, and families are concerned the Brisbane City Council lease, set more than 50 years ago, requires council approval to change the use of the land to anything but a child care facility, Brisbane Times reported. The council said decisions concerning the lease fell to Y Queensland, which declined to comment on the lease conditions.
The Birtinya Transfer
Mr McMahon said he hoped Y Queensland could transfer its lease to another childcare provider, as occurred at the organisation's Birtinya centre earlier this year. The ePetition says the ACECQA national register records a service-approval transfer there on 25 May 2026 and now lists Rise Early Learning Birtinya, and that such a transfer normally requires both providers to notify the Queensland regulator at least 60 days beforehand.
The parent-run Save Acacia Ridge Kindy campaign says a Queensland not-for-profit childcare provider would like to speak with the YMCA directly, with no commitment yet, and that 22 of the 24 families who answered its survey would stay if a new provider took over.
The centre's own page says it has provided early learning child care support to Acacia Ridge families for 40 years, with staff from many countries and regular KinderGym lessons through a partnership with YMCA Gymnastics.