ALREADY home to Perth’s most iconic beach, leafy streets and trendy cafes, Cottesloe has now been named the best place in Australia to be a mum.
A study released for Mother’s Day by Save the Children Australia also named WA as the best state to be a mother.
The charity’s first State of Australia’s Mothers report measured what matters most to a mum: paternal and child health, education opportunities and earning potential.
For Cottesloe mums Kelly Klopper, 34, and Sanne Butterfield, 36, Cottesloe’s No.1 spot is welcome, but not surprising.
They are both part of the thriving Cottesloe Mums group, who meet regularly at the Cottesloe Scout Hall on Eric St.
“For me, Cottesloe feels like a very young community because there’s so many families,” Mrs Klopper, mum to three-year-old Zac, said.
Ms Butterfield, originally from Maastricht in The Netherlands, said she and her husband lived in New Zealand before deciding to settle in the area to raise Oscar, 3.
“We were tossing up between Melbourne and Perth and based on the weather we chose here,” she said.
Besides Cottesloe’s amenity and weather, 95 per cent of children are on track in their early years, 81 per cent of females finished Year 12 or equivalent, median weekly family income is $3563 and there is high socio-economic advantage.
Peppermint Grove, Nedlands, Cambridge and Claremont rounded the top five.
WA was ranked only behind the ACT on the index, followed by Victoria, NSW, SA, Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland.
Mums in the Perth metropolitan area generally face less hardship than their regional counterparts, the report said.
Save the Children’s head of advocacy Annie Bodmer-Roy said Australia was frequently ranked among the best places in the world to be a mother, but deep disparities still existed.
The report found entrenched disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers who are behind non-indigenous mothers on almost every typical indicator of wellbeing.
In WA, the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku, near the Northern Territory and South Australian border, was where mums encountered the deepest hardship, behind Shire of Menzies and Shire of Meekathara.
By JOEL KELLY – PerthNow
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