The 2026–27 Queensland State Budget contains no additional funding commitments for Neighbourhood Centres. While the Budget continues several previously announced election commitments and existing initiatives, it does not respond to the priorities outlined in NCQ’s 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submission.
With visitors to Neighbourhood Centres increasing from 1.6 million in 2021 to 2.6 million visitors in 2025, this Budget does not provide the new investment required to strengthen Queensland’s Neighbourhood Centre sector at a time when demand is rising and Centres are increasingly relied upon as vital social infrastructure.
We know that Neighbourhood Centres are delivering for people across Queensland, easing cost of living challenges for people doing it tough, providing vital local services in regional and remote regions, and strengthening local responses to housing, disasters, and community safety challenges.
NCQ’s 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submission focused on six practical investments to strengthen Queensland communities:
- Provide early intervention support to community members facing complex cost of living, housing, domestic violence and mental health issues by expanding the Community Connect Worker Program from 33 Neighbourhood Centres to all 130-state funded Centres
- Develop the workforce and sector to respond to increasing community and government demand by investing in a statewide workforce development
- Help Queensland communities get ready for, respond to, and bounce back from compounding disasters through workforce development and by seeking permanent disaster funding for Neighbourhood Centres
- Deliver more Neighbourhood Centres for the growing number of Queenslanders
- Revitalise volunteering, civic participation and community connection opportunities in regional, remote and metropolitan Queensland by investing in volunteer coordination workers in Neighbourhood Centres
- Address loneliness and social isolation while improving physical and mental health outcomes by advancing social prescribing initiatives through Neighbourhood Centres.
You can read NCQ’s Pre-Budget Submission here.
We welcome the significant increases in funding for child safety and housing in the Budget. These are critical areas of investment, particularly at a time when many Queenslanders are experiencing housing stress, cost of living pressures and increasing demand for essential support.
The Government’s budget papers are available online via the budget portal here.