Like many of my fellow Prison Officer Vocational Branch members, I saw people with tragic backgrounds serving time in our gaols.

I’m not alone. Many of our members are employed in areas that provide vital lifelines for vulnerable individuals and communities. Through health care, housing, legal aid, and targeted support services, our members work every day to promote safety, equity, and opportunity for those who need it most.

Every day, PSA CPSU NSW members play a crucial role in protecting the state’s most vulnerable people, including children, people with disability, Indigenous communities, and those experiencing poverty, homelessness, or domestic violence. It is no coincidence that the most vocal critics of the Public Sector are among the country’s most powerful and wealthy.

Our Child Protection and Family Services are literally the difference between life and death for many children are at risk of abuse or neglect. Our members are on the frontline, investigating reports, supporting at-risk families, placing children in foster care when necessary, and working with courts to ensure child safety.

As the housing crisis bites, PSA members are there to help. Housing and Homelessness Services work to provide shelter and stability. These programs are a vital service for people escaping domestic violence.

Legal Aid is vital for access to a justice system that is so often ruinously expensive.

While the PSA CPSU NSW lamented the end of the public Disability Support network, we could not be prouder of our members working for private providers. These are the members providing personal care, transport, therapy, and community participation to some of the state’s most vulnerable people.

The state’s Aboriginal community is well served by bodies set up to address their social, economic, and cultural needs. These include programs in health, education, housing, and community development, often delivered in partnership with Indigenous-led organisations.

There are extensive programs in our Corrections and Youth Justice services to give vulnerable people who have fallen foul of the law the opportunity to reintegrate into the community.

Our members help the most vulnerable thrive in the schools, TAFE colleges and universities that, due to underfunding in the past, may otherwise have been out of reach.

I am proud to be part of a union that has done so much for not only its members, but in turn for the many vulnerable people so dependent on a professional, well-funded public and community sector.