The opposition and service providers have accused the federal government of misleading Australian parents about the number of childcare places available.
Opposition families and community services spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said childcare was in crisis and the government was "out of touch" with parents' needs by claiming that up to 127,500 childcare places were available across Australia last month.
Australia's largest not-for-profit childcare provider, KU Children's Services, also said the government's attempt to allay fears of drastic shortages and lengthy waiting lists was based on rubbery figures.
"They are certainly misleading parents," Ms Macklin told reporters in Sydney.
"What we know, talking to parents, is that thousands of parents are desperate for a childcare place.
"They can't find them and they're being told today by the Howard government there are plenty of places."
Ms Macklin said the 127,500 places were no help to parents if they were in another part of the country or didn't meet their needs.
"There is absolutely no point being told that there's a childcare place available in Tamworth if you live in Sydney," she said.
"There's no point being told there's a childcare place available on Monday, if you need a place on Wednesday and there's certainly no point being told you can have an after-hours school place if you have a baby that needs long day care."
Michelle Underwood, long day care manager of KU Children's Services, formerly the Kindergarten Union, also said the figures were deceptive because they were not broken down into days, ages of children or location.
"They tell quite a different story when you actually analyse what's really happening," Ms Underwood said.
"I don't doubt that's a correct figure, it's the story behind the figures that paint the real picture.
"It's no good having 1,000 places in Bourke when everybody in Sydney wants places."
Ms Underwood said there were still long waiting lists in most areas of Sydney's inner suburbs and the CBD, although parts of the western suburbs and many rural areas had places available.
The access hotline's computer system had crashed on Thursday and was unable to report vacancy figures.
Acting minister for families and community services John Cobb rejected Ms Macklin's claims the figures were misleading.
"Jenny Macklin's suggestion that there might be vacancies in Tamworth but not Sydney is trite. And wrong," Mr Cobb said in a statement.
"There are vacancies in Sydney and a number of Sydney councils and indeed other providers have been asking the government to restrict the number of funded places because, as the NSW Local Government Association said, there are not enough children for their places."
Mr Cobb said the figure of 127,500 reported in News Ltd papers was accurate information supplied by providers and had not been manipulated by the government.
Under a new compulsory reporting system, 90 per cent of the nation's childcare centres provide regular vacancy information to the government.