Following consultation with QCOSS members, we have developed our budget priorities for the community services sector.
The 2032 Brisbane Olympics presents an invaluable opportunity to ensure all Queenslanders have access to new opportunities, that gender inequality is addressed and that everyone has a roof over their head.
The Queensland Government must invest in strategic, long-term initiatives that reduce homelessness and inequality.
What are your areas of greatest concern? What are you seeing at your service that needs urgent attention? We engage with you, our members, throughout the year to ensure we represent the sector’s needs in our budget submission.
The QCOSS Queensland Budget Breakfast is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a sector to find out how the Queensland state budget impacts our organisations, the social service sector and our communities.
Held in June each year, in the days after the Queensland budget is announced, this premier event connects the social services sector directly with Queensland Government ministers and peers from community organisations across the state.
Queensland Treasurer, the Hon. Cameron Dick MP, joins us to unpack the budget from a community sector perspective, joining QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh for an In Conversation exploring the budget.
This year’s event is now confirmed for Thursday, 15 June 2023 from 6:15am – 8:45am!
The Queensland Budget will be announced on Tuesday, 13 June. In the days after the announcement, our Research and Advice team analyses any commitments and pledges line-by-line to assess the impact of state government decisions on each area of the community services sector.
We produce our analysis for your review during and after the QCOSS Queensland Budget Breakfast event.
Do you need additional government funding for programs or projects to meet the needs of your community?
There are many ways to seek further funding from government. This short step-by-step guide explains the process for preparing a budget priorities statement.
A budget priorities statement is different to an election ask. It is an annual submission written by your organisation that asks for money to be allocated for a purpose that you think the government should prioritise.
Budget submissions need not be complicated. They can be as short as one page and do not need to be written in formal language.
QCOSS’ popular In Conversation event series gives the community service sector exclusive access to Queensland’s political leaders and policy makers. Each year, we invite a senior representative from Queensland Treasury to unpack the Queensland budget process for our sector.
In February 2023 we were joined by former Queensland Under Treasurer Leon Allen.
These practical, in-person sessions explore the emerging issues in local communities across Queensland. The sessions are critical to the QCOSS advocacy agenda, and we travel the width and breadth of Queensland to hear your voices each year.
The workshops inform the development of our annual State of the Sector report and provide the basis of our Queensland budget submission.
The Australian Community Sector Survey is the longest running survey of the community sector by the community sector. It examines changes in the operating environment of community organisations, major issues of concern to these organisations, and looks at how the sector is responding to community need.
Commissioned by ACOSS and the Councils of Social Service with the support of Bendigo Bank, the yearly Australian Community Sector Survey explores our sector’s emerging needs and pressures, demand for services and how we can strengthen our sector’s future.
Survey responses captured from Queensland community services inform our State of the Sector reports, and subsequent Queensland Budget advocacy.
We engage widely with QCOSS member organisations each year when drafting our Queensland budget submission.
Most recently, our budget priorities have been designed to strengthen the community services sector, end the housing crisis, bridge the digital divide, expand low-income households’ access to the renewable energy transformation, and eliminate inequality and the gender pay gap.
The Queensland Government must invest in strategic, long-term initiatives that reduce homelessness and inequality.
QCOSS acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we are based on, the Jagera and Turrbal people, and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
We thank First Nations People for the gift of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We look forward to supporting work leading to a successful referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution followed by Makarrata and Truth.
We welcome the invitation to walk with First Nations Peoples in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
