History of FCQ

One of the early services in Australia was set up, primarily as a budgeting service for low-income consumers, by Brisbane Lifeline with outreach to Ipswich. The service was set up by Vic Richardson, a Director of the Bank of New South Wales, now known as Westpac. A cheque account was set up for each client with joint signatories of the client and the counsellor. The client paid in money each fortnight and the client and counsellor together paid the accounts at the end of each month. The system was very cumbersome and time consuming and the service was completely re-vamped in the early 1980s after the death of Vic. Excellent money management workshops were conducted and Vic Richardson’s workshop notes were used throughout Australia for many years.

In 1984 and 1986 Betty Weule ran the first two financial counselling courses in Queensland at Castledean. They were run in 2-week blocks, Kangaroo Point TAFE hosted the 3rd course and 4th course, a financial counselling/gambling course was held in the late 1980s. This was the beginning of financial counselling as a recognised and essential service.

For nearly 30 years, until 2020, FCQ was run by volunteers.  FCQ now employs 5 staff to manage its operations and is governed by a dedicated Management Committee who devote countless hours to ensure the purpose and objectives of FCQ are carried out effectively. Volunteers from a number of agencies have contributed to the longevity and growth of FCQ.  Presidents, now referred to as Chairs in our history include:

In 2026, FCQ currently has 222 members, comprising 86 Accredited, 51 Associate, 16 Student, 66 Affiliate and 3 Life Members.  The growth of the membership base is shown below: