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Annual Report
QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh and Hon Meaghan Scanlon MP
Build the density, diversity and connectedness of our organisational membership, using this strength to achieve change
We connected and consulted with our diverse membership base and used their collective wisdom to strengthen and focus our political asks. In turn, we ensured our members could question and understand Queensland’s powerbrokers through our In Conversation series.
On the road with two Town Hall tours
across Queensland
In the lead up to the State Election, with housing and cost-of-living crises hitting the sector hard, we undertook two massive Town Hall tours across Queensland, primarily meeting with QCOSS member organisations, to understand what issues community service organisations were seeing on the ground and the support they needed.
Between July and October 2023, and February and June 2024, we spoke to more than 800 sector workers including frontline staff, CEOs, managers, advocates, policy experts and service users in Townsville, Mount Isa, Logan, Gympie, Cairns, Toowoomba, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Moreton Bay, Mackay and Brisbane.
In each location, we heard about housing and homelessness, cost-of-living, youth justice and the need for better conditions in the sector.
The intelligence gathered at our 2023 Town Halls was used to inform our 2024 pre-budget submissions and election asks. The intelligence gathered at our 2024 Town Halls will provide some of the evidence base for our 2024 State of the Sector Report and advocacy into 2025.
But the Town Halls - which grow bigger each year - are more than evidence gathering exercises. On top of helping the sector identify, discuss and understand the issues in Queensland, they illuminate our shared purpose and give us the opportunity to form strong, connected, engaged organisational networks throughout the state.
We engaged with local media to share stories and data from many of the communities we visited.
We achieved more than 3500 media mentions reaching a potential cumulative reach of 32 million people during those tours.
Town Hall voices
Wendy Lang
CEO, Queensland Youth Service
"
Town Halls are a great time to learn about what other organisations in our community are doing, and even just network with them afterwards. Because for us, we’re so focused on youth, that sometimes we forget about the other services that are within our community. It doesn’t matter which section we’re servicing; we all have commonality in what are our issues or barriers or things that we need advocacy on.
Linda McLelland
CEO, Hinchinbrook Community Support
"
Town Hall are a really important opportunity for the sector to come together and to communicate to QCOSS what’s really happening on the ground. I keep coming back to Town Halls because I can see a direct connection between what we’re saying on the ground and how QCOSS continues the fight. One of the things that happened is Neighbourhood Centres that are so fundamental to community living have received massive increases in funding and that was a direct consequence of Town Halls, listening to what people were saying and lobbying for extra funding.
Dylan Sparrow
Local Level Alliance Facilitator, Mercy Community Townsville
"
The QCOSS Town Halls are a really pivotal initiative for our community. They enable our community services sector to come together as a united voice to advocate for changes that will better our service system as a whole, but also then lead to the betterment of our communities.
Agenda setting In Conversations
Each year, QCOSS hosts a series of In Conversation events with key Queensland policy makers. These events are free for members and are crucial for connecting them with the people who help determine the future of our sector.
