- $2.25 million announced as part of 2025-26 State Budget to strengthen LGBTIQA+ sector initiatives
- New LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Initiatives Grants Program to support sector capacity and community projects to drive inclusion
- Funding reaffirms Cook Government's commitment to delivering State's first whole-of-government LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan
The Cook Government will deliver $2.25 million over four years to support Western Australia's LGBTIQA+ community and establish a new grants program to drive inclusive initiatives.
The new funding, to be administered by the Department of Communities (Communities), will see the Cook Government establish the State's first collaborative, longstanding funding relationship with Western Australia's LGBTIQA+ services sector.
As part of the commitment in the 2025-26 State Budget, LGBTIQA+ organisations already funded through Communities will receive $1.2 million over two years to continue the delivery of crucial services and support for the community.
These include:
- Living Proud WA, which has provided support to LGBTIQA+ people and communities in WA through peer support, information and resources for 50 years;
- TransFolk of WA, a peer support service for trans people and their loved ones, that works to inform, empower and advocate for trans and gender diverse people;
- GLBTI Rights in Ageing Inc (GRAI), a voluntary group that works to enhance quality of life for LGBTI elders, focusing on promoting the voices, expertise and lived experience of older LGBTI people to the wider community; and
- Rainbow Futures WA, WA's LGBTIQA+ peak body and co-chair of the LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy Reference Group.
As part of the funding boost, the Cook Government is delivering a further $475,000 to WA's inaugural LGBTIQA+ peak body, Rainbow Futures WA, to support its work representing the State's LGBTIQA+ community and developing the capacity of the LGBTIQA+ sector.
More than $1 million will be delivered over four years under the new LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Initiatives Grants Program to fund programs that align with and support the delivery of WA's first whole-of-government LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan.
The strategy, which is under development following extensive State-wide consultation, will support a co-ordinated approach to promote inclusion for LGBTIQA+ people in WA, by identifying priority areas and associated actions to drive long-term systemic change.
For more information on the development of the strategy, visit www.wa.gov.au/lgbtqia
As stated by Youth Minister Hannah Beazley:
"The Cook Labor Government is committed to strengthening our LGBTIQA+ services sector and ensuring these organisations' important work to support the needs of this diverse community continues.
"This landmark funding will also support new and existing programs that will help deliver on the outcomes of our government's first whole-of-government LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan.
"This funding and the Strategy represent the Cook Labor Government's continued commitment to creating a more inclusive WA by promoting the wellbeing and full social and economic participation of our LGBTIQA+ community."
