The ACT Government continues to support the delivery of accessible, quality services for all Canberrans. Record investment has been provided for frontline health services, and we continue to provide a world-class public education system, as well as supporting the most vulnerable people within our community. In addition, we will continue to invest in infrastructure that underpins economic growth and meets the longer-term needs of our community.

The Budget consultation process provides an important opportunity for the community to be involved in the budget process.

As we develop future budgets, the ACT Government will continue working with the community to identify the priority services and infrastructure that will ensure our city remains a great place to live.

Working together, we can ensure that limited resources are put to their most efficient use.

The Budget consultation process addresses the ACT Government’s core areas of responsibility. These include:

• health and community wellbeing
• education and life-long learning
• housing and home
• community support, social inclusion and safety
• environment, climate and transport
• jobs, sports, arts, culture and entertainment.

Wellbeing indicators

The ACT Wellbeing Framework looks at 12 aspects of wellbeing. We call them ‘domains’. The community told us these domains were the most important to their quality of life.

There are 56 specific areas across the domains. We call these areas ‘indicators’. Our indicators show broadly how we are doing in each domain. Over time, indicator results will provide the basis for discussions between government and the community and during the development of the 2025-26 Budget and those into the future.

Through the ACT Wellbeing website, you can learn more about wellbeing in the ACT. The website includes the Wellbeing Impact Assessment template. The template helps us better understand the impact of policies and proposals on the wellbeing of our people, institutions.

There are multiple ways to get involved in the budget process:

We encourage budget submissions to focus on ideas about how the Government can best support the wellbeing of the Canberra community.

The ACT Government requires sufficient time to adequately review and consider all submissions in accordance with the 2026-27 Budget delivery schedule.

While there is not a fixed deadline for receiving input, early engagement with relevant Ministers and their directorates is encouraged.

If you have difficulty using the form, submissions can be emailed through to budgetconsultation@act.gov.au. If you provide a submission by email, make sure you inform us whether your content can be made public or is to be treated in a confidential manner.

Important note: Budget submissions are not a way for organisations or commercial operations to request funding short-term assistance, investment in for-profit businesses, or for others to do so on their behalf. Organisations and businesses seeking funding opportunities are encouraged to consult either the ACT Government Grants website or the Unsolicited proposals website.

Regular engagement between community and industry groups and ACT Government Ministers and agencies is vital to policy development and optimising government service delivery.

To support ongoing engagement, the ACT Government will also meet with a range of community and industry representative groups in early 2026 to seek input on their social and economic priorities.

While there is not a fixed deadline for receiving input, we encourage early engagement with relevant Ministers and their directorates. Providing formal submissions in early 2026, ideally ahead of the February consultation roundtable sessions, will help inform discussions at these meetings.

The annual Community Priorities Survey is the main way for Canberrans’ views to be incorporated into the ACT Budget.

The survey seeks Canberrans’ views on a range of topics including priorities, service delivery by Government and preferred communication methods.

Results from the 2025 Community Priorities Survey will also be used to inform the 2026-27 ACT Budget.

The Community Priorities survey is undertaken at the same time each year. This year's survey was open for two weeks to members of the YourSay Panel and closed on 4 November 2025.

Results from this survey will be available early in 2026.

To complete future surveys, please register to join the Panel.

Your ideas will help inform the development of future Budget priorities and decisions about how funding is allocated.

If you provide permission for your budget submission or survey to be made public, it will be uploaded to the Budget Consultation website.

Confidential items will still be reviewed by the ACT Government but not published on this website. The ACT Government will not generally respond to individual survey responses or budget submissions but will consider input received in the development of future budgets.

What we won’t publish online

The Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate retains the right to withhold input from publication if it believes that the content is:

• defamatory,
• offensive,
• contravenes anti-discrimination or anti-vilification law; or
• otherwise breaches any law.