The Queensland Sangha Association is a voluntary organization committed to the promotion of the welfare of Buddhist monks and nuns and the facilitation of services rendered by them as individuals or through the temples they live in. QSA also helps the Sangha and the temple associations to establish themselves properly.
Recent statistics indicate that as of 2009, there are nearly half a million people who profess to be Buddhists in Australia. Although reliable statistics are not available, there are a few hundreds of centres at which Buddhist monks and nuns live. They learn and practice continuously while serving the community both in a social sense and as spiritual guides. In Queensland, there are about sixty such centers or groups. In Brisbane itself, the capital of Queensland, at least twenty such centers are very visible and organised. These centers are operated by monks and nuns (that is the Sangha) with the active support of lay persons through incorporated associations.
There is no assurance as to the welfare of all members of the Sangha, as some of the supporting communities are small or weak. Hence there is a need to enhance general support for the Sangha as a whole in addition to the community support already available within specific communities.
There is also the need for a central organisation to help pool resources and to provide a common framework of support for the Sangha.
Centers at which the Sangha reside are governed by strict laws of the country, and in this regard, individual monks and nuns cannot be expected to acquire full knowledge of the law and standards applicable as it is not there primary field of interest. Centrally organised support is necessary in this type of context. In some cases members of the Sangha or their temple associations have met with serious problems in the past and a good deal of valuable resources have been wasted.
As teachers and protectors of Buddhism, the Sangha have onerous responsibilities. Again they need support by way of specialist advice in many fields. This is to prevent them from being dragged on into distressing difficulties, disputes and litigation.
Realising these and other needs of the Sangha, the Australian Sangha Association was set up at the federal level just a few years ago under the able leadership of Venerable Brahmawanso (Ajahn Brahm) of Bodhiyana Monastery in Western Australia. Eventually local problems need to be addressed at a local level and therefore Sangha Associations in each state will be a necessary and natural development.
As the first such state level venture the Queensland Sangha Association was set up on 10 June 2007. Venerable Wattegama Dhammawasa Nayaka Thero, of the Sri Lanka Buddhist Monastery (Brisbane), himself a founding member of the Australian Sangha Association, functions as the president until 2016. Reverend James Wilson of the Jodoshu Temple in Ashgrove, Brisbane was president in 2017 and 2018.