For our latest research project, we asked older people about their experiences of finding joy in ageing. Our new report, Golden Eras: The Joy of Ageing in New South Wales, shares what you told us and highlights some important actions to consider.  

Introducing the report to an audience of COTA NSW members, supporters, sector partners and Members of the NSW Parliament, CEO Gohar Yazdabadi spoke of the need to challenge the prevailing negative view of ageing. 

“We know that Australia often talks about ageing through a deficit lens. We talk about decline and dependency, and position older people as burdens to others. The people we spoke to for this report told us something different.” 

Ms Yazdabadi also addressed the difficulties older people currently face to ageing well. “If we want older people in NSW to experience the joy of ageing, we have to create the conditions that make that possible.” 

“That means tackling loneliness. It means creating age-friendly communities. It means ensuring people can remain connected to their neighbourhoods. It means supporting volunteering, lifelong learning, creativity and participation. It means designing housing and public spaces that work for people at every stage of life. And, perhaps most importantly, it means changing the way we think about ageing.” 

Launching the report, the NSW Minister for Seniors, Jodie Harrison MP, said, “It’s really incredibly heartening to see how the older people view ageing across NSW. They’re finding joy in their lives through connections and having active lives and having a sense of purpose.” 

“While celebrating the positive aspects of ageing, it also highlights that there are several positive challenges that we have in relation to supporting older people.” 

“We want everybody in NSW to have opportunity as they age; to stay connected to access the services they need to maintain a healthy and productive way of life and also to address social isolation.” 

“Our work through the NSW Ageing Well Strategy continues and is certainly informed by feedback from our ageing peaks [organisations], COTA being the Secretariat for our ageing peaks.”