Last week Rainbow Futures, the peak body for LGBTIQA+ communities in Western Australia announced that the newly elected Cook government had committed $2.25 million towards supporting the LGBTIQA+ communities.
The funding commitment from WA Labor was given to Rainbow Futures just ahead of the election but was not made public until after Labor had been returned to government.
While key organisations including Rainbow Futures, WAAC, Living Proud and Transfolk WA welcomed the funding commitment, other organisations were left wondering if they’d just been locked out of funding for the next term of government.
A government spokesperson has told OUTinPerth that the government was ‘committed to the commitment’ and specific uses for the funding will be shaped by the state’s first LGBTIQA+ inclusion strategy which is currently being developed.
“The newly elected Cook Labor Government is committed to delivering on this $2.25million funding commitment to strengthen the LGBTIQA+ sector in Western Australia.” they said.
“This funding will support existing and new LGBTIQA+ programs and initiatives and be informed by WA’s first LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy, which is currently in the public consultation phase.”
Appearing on RTRFM’s All Things Queer program last week Misty Farquhar, CEO of Rainbow Futures, gave more insight into the funding announcement and what it means for LGBTIQA+ Western Australians.
Farquhar said that while $900,000 funding delivered by the government in 2024 had made big differences to the capacity of groups like Rainbow Futures, Transfolk WA and Living Proud, this next installment would assist many other groups across the state.
“This next round of funding is going to hopefully share that around a bit with smaller groups and organisations. It’s a way of increasing capacity in so we can start to see more activities as we go forward.”
Farquhar said the funding announcements would have no effect on Rainbow Futures role in advocating for long overdue law reforms that Labor has been promising for an extended period of time.
The latest funding will be for over the four-year term of government between 2025 and 2029. The funding previously committed to key organisations in 2024 expires in 2026. Farquhar said at the of that period there would be a review and hopefully ongoing funding provided beyond 2026.
“The $900,000 that was given out last year, they were two-year contracts for those organisations., including Rainbow Futures WA. At the end of two years, they’ll be a review and hopefully renewal of those contracts because we’ve managed to do so much with so little.”
For Rainbow Futures the funding to date has allowed them to hire people who were previously serving as volunteers and allowed them to support government initiatives such as the development of a statewide inclusion strategy.
“We have more capacity to have conversations about law reform and additional resourcing for communities. We’ve only been funded for four months, but it’s made a massive difference to the kind of work that we’re able to do.” Farquhar told host Bobby Fletcher.
One thing it is on the agenda for Rainbow Futures is further updates to the state’s gender recognition laws. Farquhar said that while the legislation passed in 2024 fell short of community expectations the removal of the archaic Gender Recognition Board was a welcomed advancement.
Farquhar said there would be pressue of the government to follow through on their committment to ban conversion therapy, update surrogacy laws, review the Equal Opportunity Act, and improve the rights of people who are intersex.
Calls for government to recognise the lack of resources for LGBTIQA+ people in the regions
Busselton Pride Alliance has called on the Cook Government to recognise the lack of resources and services for LGBTIQA+ people in the regions.
Spokesperson, Clare Paine, said one in every four Western Australians lived outside of metropolitan Perth, and that there are overdue and practical needs in rural and regional WA for our community.
“The recent funding announcement of $2.250m for support services is welcome, but it must not be concentrated in metro Perth.
“There are critical needs in the regions, most especially with health care, mental health services, support for parents with LGBTIQA+ children, safe spaces and social support for youth, appropriate age care for seniors, and the general welfare of trans and gender diverse people at a time of increasing hated against them,” they said.
Paine said that Labor had generally fared poorly in the regions at the election for a number of reasons, which included the loss of Geraldton, Albany and Kalgoorlie.
“I’m confident that LGBTIQA+ folks throughout Broome, Port Hedland, Geraldton, Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie and much more – would echo our call.
“Over the last 25 years the LGBTIQA+ community has de-centralised and no longer congregates in a 10km radius of the CBD. It’s much more common these days to find openly queer people in regional towns and increasing numbers of retiring same-sex couples are moving to coastal communities.”
Paine said tele-health services only went so far but were no substitute for properly trained health care workers on the ground.
“The 2024 ABS report on the number of LGBTIQA+ people in WA put it at around 4 percent. This means the recent funding announcement equates to just $18.75 for each of us over four years.
“It’s a start, but it’s also a drop in the ocean for a government with a $2.6 billion surplus. We really need to get serious about the failure of health, social, education and equality policy for LGBTIQA+ people throughout the whole of the state.”
Join an online consultation on the development of the Inclusion Strategy
Share your thoughts to support the development of a whole of government strategy to drive inclusiveness and long-term systemic change for LGBTIQA+ people in Western Australia.
Get tickets to the online session via Humantix. The next session is being held at 12pm on Saturday 29th March.
OUTinPerth co-editor Graeme Watson is a former staff member and current volunteer at RTRFM 92.1. OUTinPerth co-editor Leigh Andrew Hill and Misty Farquhar are both employees of Curtin University.
