Co-design of a carers strategy for New South Wales: reflections on a new approach to collaborative policy making with carers

NSW is Australia's most populous state, with 7.7 million people (about a third of the Australian population). There are 905,000 carers in NSW. Carers provide ongoing unpaid support to people who need it because of their disability, chronic illness, mental ill-health, dementia or frail age. This article looks at the New South Wales (NSW) Carers Strategy 2014–19 (NSW Department of Family and Community Services, 2014), which is a whole-of-government and whole of-community response to support carers in NSW The aim is for carers in NSW to be supported to participate in social and economic life, to be healthy, and to live well.