Wednesday 24 June 2026 – For Immediate Release
Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH) and Mental Health Lived Experience Peak Queensland (MHLEPQ) say the 2026-27 Queensland Budget delivers significant new investment in mental health but almost all of it flows to hospitals, emergency departments and inpatient beds. The community-based services that keep people out of those facilities remain chronically underfunded and are not addressed in this budget.
“Mental health reform cannot rely on hospitals and crisis responses alone. Until Queensland closes the gap in community-based psychosocial support, we will keep building more crisis infrastructure to catch the same people falling through the same gaps,” said Tanya O’Shea, Acting Board Chair, Queensland Alliance for Mental Health.
Key announcements relating to mental health and community wellbeing include:
“We were grateful to see Queensland Government funding for Brisbane North Safe Spaces secured for this financial year. These are peer-led solutions to distress in our community. We need more of this. The money needs to flow towards where people live, work and play, not just towards the crisis end of the system.,” said Simon Katterl, CEO, Mental Health Lived Experience Peak Queensland.
This imbalance between acute and community investment is not new, it has persisted across successive Queensland governments. That history also means the current government has a genuine opportunity to shift the dial in the next 12 months.
The Mental Health Levy is forecast to collect $597 million in 2026-27, growing to $748 million by 2029-30. The new clinical services announced in this budget account for around $100 million of that annually. The Queensland Audit Office found the levy has been managed without adequate governance or public accountability since its introduction and Queenslanders still cannot get a clear answer on where the remaining $500 million goes each year.
That gap is compounded by what’s happening federally. Queensland Treasury’s own budget papers also warn that federal NDIS access reforms could result in Queenslanders losing around $1 billion per annum in disability supports by the end of the forward estimates. For people with mental health challenges who rely on NDIS, losing that support without a funded state alternative means one place to turn: crisis services. This budget contains no new investment in the community-based alternatives people will need when NDIS access contracts.
With a Budget released on the same day, New South Wales confirmed it will pass on the Fair Work Commission’s 4.75 per cent Award wage increase in full to community sector workers; Queensland’s budget contains no equivalent commitment. Without a funding uplift from the Queensland Government, that cost comes directly out of already minimal service delivery budgets resulting in fewer hours, reduced capacity, and organisations pushed closer to financial unviability.
The most important reforms are still ahead of us and that is where the opportunity sits. The next National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement and the design of Psychosocial Foundational Supports are both live right now. Get them right, and Queensland can finally fund the supports that keep people well in the community. But neither is yet reflected in this Budget: the Agreement is absent from the papers, and Foundational Supports rate a single line the department will ‘continue to progress.’ The groundwork needs to start now, with funding, a timeline and a firm Queensland commitment.
“The challenge for Queensland is not simply how we respond to mental health crises, but how we invest in the supports that help people stay well, connected and supported in their communities in the first place. You cannot reduce ambulance ramping, stabilise housing or keep young people out of the justice system without investing in the services that intervene before crisis. The Government knows this and this Budget needed to act on it,” said Tanya O’Shea, Acting Board Chair, Queensland Alliance for Mental Health.
QAMH and MHLEPQ continue to call for a greater share of mental health funding to be directed toward community-managed organisations including full transparency of how every dollar of Mental Health Levy revenue is allocated, a commitment to pass on Award increases, and a funded plan for Foundational Supports that goes beyond a line in a budget document.
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About the organisations
Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH) is the peak body for community-managed mental health organisations in Queensland, representing more than 146 member organisations. QAMH provides policy leadership, promotes systemic reform and supports community mental health organisations to deliver quality and effective services. Visit qamh.org.au
Mental Health Lived Experience Peak Queensland (MHLEPQ) is the Queensland peak body for people with lived and living experience of mental health challenges, their families, carers and supporters. MHLEPQ leads systemic advocacy to ensure lived experience is central to mental health policy and service design. Visit mhlepq.org.au
MEDIA CONTACT
Chloe Jesson, Deputy CEO, QAMH | cjesson@qamh.org.au | www.qamh.org.au
Simon Katterl, CEO, MHLEPQ | ceo@mhlepq.org.au | www.mhlepq.org.au
Notes to editors
1 Queensland invests $13 per person in NGO-delivered community mental health services vs a national average of $19 per person: AIHW, Mental Health Services in Australia, Expenditure Series, Table EXP 6, Constant Prices
2 92,010 Queenslanders estimated to be going without psychosocial support: Health Policy Analysis (2024), Analysis of unmet need for psychosocial supports outside the NDIS, Department of Health and Aged Care
3 High-priority ambulance mental health incidents rose 40% over five years, from approximately 58,000 in 2020-21 to around 82,000 in 2024-25: Queensland Audit Office, Health 2025 (Report 9: 2025-26)
4 Mental Health Levy revenue forecasts: Queensland Budget 2026-27, Budget Paper No. 2: Budget Strategy and Outlook
5 NDIS reform could result in Queenslanders losing around $1 billion per annum in disability supports: Queensland Budget 2026-27, Budget Paper No. 2: Budget Strategy and Outlook, Box 6.1
6 Foundational Supports listed as a 2026-27 activity without funding: Queensland Budget 2026-27, Service Delivery Statements, Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety, p.2
Please consider how you report on mental health issues. Consult mindframe guidelines:
https://mindframe.org.au/mental-health/communicating-about-mental-ill-health/mindframe-guidelines
