Save Izzy: campaign calls on government to restore funding for vital services directory

Posted on 07 Oct 2026

By Nick Place, journalist, Community Directors

Screenshot 2026 10 06 at 12 08 50 pm — The Ask Izzy portal received 9.1 million requests for assistance from Australians in the last financial year.

A major public campaign launched this morning is calling on the federal government to restore millions of dollars in funding for Ask Izzy, an Infoxchange service that connects people in need with essential services, food, housing, health and safety.

A free and anonymous website, Ask Izzy offers “Australia’s largest and most comprehensive directory of social support, with more than 500,000 listings,” Infoxchange said. “It acts as a referral pathway to charities and services and underpins numerous other directories around the country.”

Launched in 2016 with federal government support, the portal was initially focused on helping people experiencing homelessness, before broadening to meet other demands. However, further funding was withdrawn in the most recent federal budget, to the dismay of sector leaders.

The campaign to restore it is spearheaded by an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed by 24 of Australia’s most prominent sector peak bodies and social service organisations, alongside Infoxchange. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), the Community Council for Australia (CCA), Foodbank, OzHarvest, Mission Australia, the Smith Family, UnitingCare Australia and St Vincent de Paul are among the signatories.

The letter was announced across national media this morning and calls on the prime minister to restore roughly $2 million in annual funding for Ask Izzy, which Infoxchange says is handling record numbers of searches for food, housing, financial hardship and other support.

More need than ever

In the last financial year, Ask Izzy logged 9.1 million calls for assistance, an increase of about seven per cent on the previous financial year. As cost-of-living and other social pressures assailed Australians, searches for food assistance, housing, mental health support, family violence help and other areas of need increased significantly.

Infoxchange chief executive David Spriggs said the campaign was asking the government to “pay its fair share” of funding for essential national social services infrastructure.

The request is for $6 million over three years to continue funding the service.

“The government helped establish Ask Izzy, and its agencies, funded services and countless vulnerable Australians rely on it every day,” Spriggs said.

“If Ask Izzy degrades, women and children fleeing domestic violence, parents struggling to feed their children and young people sleeping rough could lose one of the best ways they have to find help.

“Australians are struggling. Now is not the time to make finding help harder. The government should restore the funding,” he added.

The campaign comes with lots of heavyweight support from within the for-purpose sector, and includes plans to lobby ministers in Canberra, asking who cut the funding and why.

“Australians are struggling. Now is not the time to make finding help harder. The government should restore the funding.”

David Spriggs, CEO, Infoxchange

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said it was important that Ask Izzy remained an easily accessible and reliable portal to ensure Australians did not suffer alone.

“Every day, people in financial distress and hardship rely on Ask Izzy to find help to survive,” she said. “Since covid-19, we have only seen community demand for social services continue to increase.”

The national director of UnitingCare Australia, Tamara Thomas, said, “Cost-of-living pressures aren’t going away, and across the UnitingCare network we’re seeing more people pushed into hardship. Families are skipping meals to afford fuel to get their children to school, while older people are living in cars because they can’t find affordable housing.

“That’s why government investment in essential social services like Ask Izzy is crucial, because when people are facing crisis, these services become a lifeline and are proven to provide the support they need.”

OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn said, “Times have become so hard that food relief is now one of the most sought-after social services in this country. And how do people find food services when they need it most? Through Ask Izzy.

“Without Ask Izzy, people will lose one of the best ways they have to find food and other services in their area, and they will lose hope. The government must find a funding solution and quickly.”

Infoxchange’s call for funding was also backed by people with personal experience of hardship.

“For someone in crisis, Ask Izzy is the first point of hope,” said family violence survivor, community advocate and educator Vicky Vacondios. “Walking away from it now, when more people need it than ever, makes no sense. The government should restore this funding.”

Elvis Martin, a lived-experience advocate, R U OK? ambassador and member of the Infoxchange Community Advisory Group, said, “I know what it is to be in crisis and not know a single place that can help – and I know that one connection at the right moment can save a life. That is what Ask Izzy does, millions of times a year: it puts the right connection in front of someone at the worst moment of their life.”

Essential across Australia

Those leaning on Ask Izzy for help in finding services and support came from every state and territory in the 2025–26 financial year, portal data shows. New South Wales and Victoria both recorded more than 2.6 million searches (26 per cent of searches each), with Queensland not far behind at almost 2.2 million searches (24 per cent).

Data showed that women made up almost two-thirds of Ask Izzy users, at 63 per cent, with Infoxchange saying this illustrated “the importance of Ask Izzy for women, particularly those seeking urgent and confidential support while caring for children, escaping family violence or dealing with other forms of acute hardship.”

Australians aged 27–39 were the largest demographic using Ask Izzy at 36 per cent of total users, followed by people aged 18–26 and 40–54 (both at 23 per cent).

More than 2.8 million searchers sought food help, up by more than 5 per cent on the previous year. Searches for support in the areas of housing, financial assistance, mental health and wellbeing, family violence and health were all up.

“The growth across almost every major area of need shows that the record use of Ask Izzy is not being driven by one issue alone,” Infoxchange said in releasing the data.

“Australians are looking for more help across a wide range of essential needs, reflecting a difficult economic and social environment and highlighting the importance of making support easy to find when people are struggling.”