Community Services (Regional Equity) Amendment Bill 2026 and Wollongong social service delivery

The Community Services (Regional Equity) Amendment Bill 2026 passed the NSW Legislative Assembly on 2 July and now moves to the upper house. It changes the weighting given to regional disadvantage scores when the Department of Communities and Justice allocates annual grants to non-government organisations. Wollongong-based services that provide family support, emergency relief and housing navigation will be assessed under the new formula.

The bill responds to updated Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing population growth and job displacement patterns in steel-dependent electorates. Port Kembla and the surrounding industrial precincts recorded a 7 per cent rise in households accessing rental assistance between 2023 and 2025. The legislation requires future funding rounds to incorporate those figures when setting baseline allocations.

Changes for Wollongong households

Local agencies such as the Illawarra Community Services Network and Warrawong neighbourhood centres will submit applications under revised guidelines that prioritise areas with combined unemployment and housing-stress indicators above the state median. A family in Berkeley seeking after-school care support, for example, would be counted within a catchment that now receives an automatic loading rather than competing solely on project merit. The Department of Communities and Justice has published draft guidelines that list 14 statistical areas across the Illawarra as automatically eligible for the loading.

The explanatory memorandum attached to the bill states that $47 million will be redirected across regional NSW over four years, with the Illawarra share determined by the revised index. No new money is appropriated; existing program envelopes are reallocated according to the updated scoring matrix.

Local advocates note that organisations already operating in Port Kembla renewable energy zone precincts may need to adjust their reporting to capture the new social-impact metrics. The legislation requires each funded service to submit quarterly data on client postcodes and service type, which will feed into the next round of grant calculations.

Next steps

The bill is scheduled for committee stage in the Legislative Council on 22 July. If passed unamended, the new grant guidelines take effect for all applications lodged after 1 January 2027. The Department of Communities and Justice will release updated application templates and postcode eligibility maps by October 2026.