Objective: To explore rural residents' experiences of access to maternity care with consideration of the policy context.

Design: This paper describes findings from focus groups with parents which formed part of case study data from a larger study.

Setting: Four north Queensland rural towns.

Participants: Thirty-three parents living in one of the four rural towns.

Main outcome measures: Identifying prevalent themes in case studies regarding rural parents' expectations and experiences in accessing maternity care.

Results: Parents desired a local, safe and consistent maternity service. Removing or downgrading rural services introduced new barriers to care for rural residents: (i) increased financial costs; (ii) family issues; and (iii) safety concerns.

Conclusions: Although concerns about rural residents' health status and health care access have received significant policy attention for over a decade, many of the problems which prompted these policy initiatives remain today. Current policy approaches should be re-evaluated in order to improve rural Australians' access to vital health services such as maternity care.