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Policy

As the peak non-government organisation for carers in NSW, Carers NSW works continually to improve carer recognition, inclusion and support among governments, service providers, employers and the community.

Contact us

The Policy Team welcomes feedback, advice and suggestions from carers, stakeholders and members of the community about problems with systems, services, policies and legislation in NSW. You can contact us in any of the following ways:

Email: policy@carersnsw.org.au

Phone: 1800 242 636 (ask to speak to the Policy Team)

Online form

What we do

Carers NSW is the peak non-government organisation for family and friend carers in New South Wales. Peak organisations represent groups of people or organisations with specific needs and advocate to governments, industry and the community on their behalf. This kind of advocacy is known as systemic advocacy, which aims to achieve change and improvement in systems, services, policies and legislation.

As a peak organisation, Carers NSW works continually to improve recognition and support for all carers in NSW. We want to create real change for carers by finding out what they need and ensuring that their views and interests are taken into account by governments, service providers, employers and the community.

How we do it

The Policy Team works in a variety of ways to represent carers. We write papers and submissions, attend and present at meetings and forums, provide advice to a range of stakeholders and work in partnership with governments and other agencies to raise the profile of carers in the community.

Our policy work is informed by:

Our policy work focuses on issues within NSW, but we also work collaboratively with Carers Australia and the national Network of Carers Associations to advocate on national issues that impact upon carers and the people they care for.

What we focus on

There are many topic areas and issues that relate to carers. However, we focus our work on a few key areas:

Disability, including:

Ageing, including:

  • aged care services, including residential care and community care services
  • issues experienced by carers of people over the age of 65, including carers of people with dementia and carers of people receiving palliative care
  • issues experienced by carers who are ageing themselves, inlcuding ageing parent carers of adults with disability

Health and wellbeing, including:

  • the health system 
  • mental health services
  • issues experienced by carers of people with a chronic or serious illness
  • issues experienced by carers of people with a mental illness
  • carers’ own health and wellbeing

Economic and social inclusion

  • employment, education and training policy
  • how employers can support carers in the workplace
  • issues experienced by carers who are employed or seeking employment
  • welfare and income support systems
  • financial issues experienced by carers
  • housing policy and affordability
  • transport system
  • gender and caring

We place a high importance on representing the needs of diverse carers in NSW in all our policy work, in particular the following groups:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers
  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/gender diverse or intersex (LGBTI+) carers
  • Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) carers
  • Young carers under the age of 25
  • Carers living in regional, rural and remote areas

  • Forums and committees

    Carers NSW is represented on a number of forums and committees.

  • Policy papers and submissions

    Publishing papers and preparing written submissions are the main ways our Policy Team tells the NSW and Australian governments about what carers need.

News:

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Carers NSW acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land, Elders past and present and all Aboriginal people.