Some political victories inspire songs and movies. Others go unheralded, the result of long-term determination and patience that defy the heroic narrative.

While the NSW Government’s commitment to deliver five-year funding to the sector as part of its new sector roadmap is definitely in the latter category, I do want to take a moment to reflect on what it means for NCOSS members.

More than any single government initiative, this framework will make a material difference to the lives of our state’s most vulnerable people by allowing our members to shift their focus from the funding merry-go-round to their core mission.

For too long, the sector has devoted too many of our scarce resources to bureaucracy, jumping through contractual hoops and using ineffective evaluation frameworks for short-term funding contracts that seem to end before they begin.

Extending the funding window, streamlining contract requirements, and creating more certainty will allow our members to invest more of their time in their mission while remaining accountable to the communities we serve.

These structural reforms are linked to a Jobs Compact that will make work in the community services sector more secure and better supported, helping us retain our most valuable asset.

However, the sector also has genuine concerns that without the right government support, the mission of improving work conditions in the sector may undermine the viability of some services.

One wrinkle is emerging in the push to create a Portable Long Service Scheme for the sector.

While the sector strongly supports any move that would allow workers to accumulate long service leave entitlements and build on them when they move around the sector, this scheme is currently unfunded, meaning service organisations could be left to foot a higher wages bill.

The Government’s own analysis shows that this would add at least half a per cent to labour costs to fund a scheme that will eventually become self-funding. In dollar terms, this would amount to an extra $84 million in operating costs. This is a significant burden for organisations running on the tight margins that many NCOSS members are. This will have a material impact on their services and, critically, their capacity to hire the very workers the scheme is designed to assist.

I have made the case to the NSW Government and have yet to secure a commitment to fund the scheme, but we need to press the point. This is an example of the type of self-defeating bureaucratic thinking the broader Roadmap seeks to avoid.

If you are concerned about your service’s capacity to meet these increased costs, we would love to hear from you so we can continue to press our case with the government. We also encourage you to speak to your state member of parliament, so they know what is at risk in their community.

Community needs are growing in a cost-of-living crisis. In this pressured context, it would be a shame if the government’s welcome commitment to stabilising the sector is let down by short-term thinking that undermines the very services it seeks to stabilise.