Funding for community sector

The ACT Government will provide a $10 million funding boost over two years to help Canberra’s community sector manage rising costs and increasing demand.

The community sector warned last year that some organisations could close unless the government significantly increased funding. The sector had faced 15 years of static funding despite a 30 per cent rise in Canberra’s population and soaring demand for services, and many services were turning people away, or struggling with long waitlists, unsafe facilities, staff shortages, and financial insolvency.

Around 150 organisations with multi-year ACT Government funding agreements that receive Community Sector Indexation will be eligible. The funding boost is separate from the annual indexation rate of 3.35 per cent for 2025-26.

“This announcement delivers on our commitment to further support the community organisations that deliver the community services that Canberrans need,” treasurer Chris Steel MLA said. “The sustainability of our community sector is of shared importance for our growing city and the wellbeing we want for our population. These pre-budget measures reaffirm the ACT Government’s commitment to a strong, inclusive, and resilient community sector.”

Community services minister Suzanne Orr MLA said the funding would help ease growing cost pressures and support the sector’s long-term sustainability.

The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) was “very pleased” with the $10 million additional investment, CEO Dr Devin Bowles said.

“The Government’s investment will enable the continuation of many of the vital services that Canberrans expect the community sector to keep delivering. This investment is the good faith signal that the Government recognises the importance of the sustainability of the community sector.”

The ACT Greens said the funding boost was enough for the community sector to survive, but not enough to create a truly strong safety net for people in Canberra.

ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury MLA argued that the $10 million boost would not go far: divided between 150 organisations over two years, it equated to an average of $33,000 per year.

“More people than ever are turning to local community organisations to cover the basics like food, housing, healthcare and household needs, so if today’s funding announcement is the end of it, that’s a real problem,” Mr Rattenbury said.

He warned that if Labor used the budget to shut down the Rent Relief Fund or cut other supports, even more people would be forced to turn to community services for help. The funding only covered organisations with multi-year agreements, while others faced uncertainty about whether they could continue operating.

“That has real life consequences for Canberrans who may lose their jobs, their support networks, or the roof over their heads,” Mr Rattenbury said.

Mr Rattenbury urged Mr Steel to tax big corporations — banks, supermarkets, airlines, and major retailers — as the Greens have suggested.

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson welcomed the announcement as a small first step toward addressing the growing gap between the cost of service delivery and the level of government funding.

Mr Emerson’s supply and confidence agreement with ACT Labor committed to review funding for the community services sector before the 2025-26 Budget. The sector served Canberra’s most vulnerable — women escaping violence, homeless young people, those needing emergency food relief — but every organisation he had spoken to was under serious pressure: many were on the brink of collapse, forced to lay off staff, or discontinue services as demand and complexity grew.

“This small initial funding uplift sends a signal that the government understands the pressures faced by the community sector, and is willing to work collaboratively to ensure the sustainability of the sector,” Mr Emerson said.

Mr Emerson called for greater investment in prevention — “the community sector’s wheelhouse” — to reduce long-term health and social costs. He praised the government’s willingness to engage, but warned:

“With many critical service providers reporting being unable to meet current levels of demand, a lot more work and funding will be needed moving forward to keep vulnerable members of our community from falling through cracks.”

Budget funding for aquatic centre and convention precinct

The ACT and Federal Labor governments will jointly fund the design and construction of a new Canberra Aquatic Centre and Canberra Convention and Entertainment Precinct, in what they described as the biggest investment in Canberra’s civic and cultural infrastructure in more than a generation. Labor first announced the joint funding in their election campaign.

The two governments have committed $200 million in initial funding, with $31.1 million to plan and design the precinct, and $68.9 million to design and construct the aquatic centre in Commonwealth Park.

The aquatic centre would replace Civic Pool, built in 1956, and be built in Commonwealth Park, near the new light rail stops on Commonwealth Avenue. The precinct would be built on the Civic Pool site.

The precinct would include a larger convention centre and an 8,000-seat entertainment venue for live music, entertainment, and indoor sporting events, which would support the visitor economy and grow jobs in tourism, hospitality and construction, Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA said. The existing convention centre is at capacity and cannot meet future demand.

The budget also includes funding for a Canberra Lyric Theatre that would host opera, ballet, and musical theatre, attracting more productions and touring shows to the capital. Dare one hope for productions of French grand opéra — religious massacres, blessings of swords, ice-skating ballets, coronations of false Messiahs, exploding palaces, erupting volcanoes, shipwrecks, poisonous trees, excommunications and auto-da-fés, Trojan horses, cities destroyed, empires founded, and the end of the world? The maximalist bel canto of Pacini and Mercadante? Boris Godunov, The Invisible City of Kitezh, and Abesalom da Eteri? Or The Ring: four days of Norse myth, gods, giants, Valkyries and dragons, incest and real estate negotiations, ending with the stage simultaneously flooding and on fire. Or a cycle of Strauss: princesses making love to the severed head of John the Baptist, matricide, cross-dressing all-female love triangles, choruses of unborn children singing in frying pans, omniscient molluscs, sopranos turning into trees, and showers of gold. Or, indeed, Stockhausen’s week-long cosmic cycle Licht, if they can fit the four helicopters into the auditorium.

Canberra Liberals leader Leanne Castley MLA said her party supported new convention and aquatic centres in principle, but raised concerns about the ACT’s growing debt, forecast to exceed $14.9 billion this year.

“Canberra is missing out on much needed economic activity and a new convention centre will help attract new events and greater tourism numbers,” Ms Castley said, but added: “ACT Labor needs to show how this project will be funded and ensure it provides the community with real value for money. We also need a clear timeline for project delivery. Andrew Barr has been promising a new convention centre for 10 years but has delivered nothing but announcements.”

Master Builders ACT said the ACT building and construction industry welcomed the funding for the aquatic centre and convention precinct. CEO Anna Neelagama said the projects would help grow the ACT as a tourism, sporting and business destination. She called for the government to structure procurement to allow Canberra businesses and workers to deliver the projects.