A $15m commitment by the Victorian government to build Australia’s first pride centre in Melbourne has been hailed as “amazing leadership” by Victoria’s gender and sexuality commissioner, Rowena Allen, who said it was the first time the state had invested in infrastructure to support the needs of the LGBTI community.

Marriage equality: Telstra denies backflip after pressure from Catholic church Read more

“The timing is so pertinent because our community is really under attack,” Allen, who was appointed to the role in July, told Guardian Australia.

“I’ve been receiving calls all day – my battery is almost flat – people excited about this. People are so excited to be in a state with a premier and a minister who understand us.

“It’s a really good day at the office today.”

The pre-budget announcement on Wednesday was made a month before the planned parliamentary apology to lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) Victorians who were convicted under the state’s historic anti-homosexuality laws, which were overturned in 1981.

Convictions under those laws were expunged in 2014.

A feasibility study on the pride centre was commissioned last year and Guardian Australia understands the Andrews government has already begun work on a business case, with the intention of starting the process to develop the centre, which may be a new building in a central location in the city or may involve kitting-out an old building, within a year to 18 months.

The government has said the proposed centre will be bigger than the San Francisco’s LGBTI community centre, which has been a cornerstone for both the LBGTI community and the gay rights movement since opening in 2002.

“Equality is not negotiable in Victoria,” the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said. “Victoria’s LGBTI community has a lot to be proud of and I congratulate everyone who has worked hard to make Australia’s first pride centre a reality.”

Love wins: Guardian marriage equality forum feels the passion Read more

Sean Mulcahy, co-convener of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, said the centre would give organisations that currently hop between public meeting rooms a permanent home.

“Our organisation really just runs out of a PO box and a couple of meeting spaces that we can scrounge up from the generosity of other non-LGBTI organisations,” he told Guardian Australia. “I know other organisations that run out of people’s kitchens.”

In addition to providing certainty for advocacy organisations,Mulcahy said the centre would provide a central location for LGBTI-specific health services and be a safe, welcoming space for the LBGTI community to meet.

“Community connection for us is incredibly important, especially when we still experience stigma and persecution in our schools, in our workplaces and in our parliaments,” he said. “What this really comes down to is a visible symbol of what an inclusive society we have become.”

The Victorian Aids Council has also welcomed the announcement, with its president, Chad Hughes, saying they looked forward to working with the government and other organisations to figure out what the centre should look like.

“As an organisation we have some complex needs – with the services we run and the work we do we’re the largest LGBTI community organisation in Victoria,” Hughes said. “There are a lot of considerations when it comes to finding a suitable new location.”

I counsel LGBTI people and know the personal harm a marriage equality plebiscite will cause | Paul Martin Read more

Allen said it was important the LGBTI community had ownership of the centre, both literally and figuratively, and said its underlying purpose was not to provide a base for political campaigns but to provide sanctuary and support to LGBTI people.

“It’s a place for a young 17-year-old girl who thinks she might be lesbian to walk in, talk to people, go and have a coffee and look at the archives,” she said. “It’s not a political activism space, a lobbying space, at all.”

The centre is unlikely to be built before the plebiscite on same-sex marriage, which the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has maintained will be held after the federal election. The wording of that question is yet to be determined.

Martin Foley, the equality minister, said the pride centre was “long overdue” and would attract national and international visitors, as well as supporting LGBTI people througout Victoria.

“It will be a great gathering place for the LGBTI community and allow for much greater collaboration between services and community organisations,” he said.

The plans are still being negotiated but it’s expected the centre will host LBGTI health services and advocacy organisations, provide meeting rooms, host archives of the state’s LBGTI history and showcase art by sexually and gender diverse people.