Dame puts stamp on co-ops

THE cooperative movement is calling on governments around Australia to align the state-based regulation of the sector.

Visiting Perth this week, International Cooperative Alliance president Dame Pauline Green said the cooperative business model was “viable, strong and growing”.

She said it would be helped by legislative reform in Australia, to introduce a consistent treatment for the larger national cooperatives.

The WA government has already reformed the relevant legislation in WA and this was seen as a model for other states to follow.

Dame Pauline said Australian cooperatives generated more than $15 billion in annual turnover.

Two of the largest are West Perth-based grain handler and marketer CBH Group and Burswood-based Capricorn Society, which acts as a central buying group for 14,500 automotive repair shops across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

CBH decided last year to retain its current cooperative structure, after a long and at times fractious debate over the merits of changing to a company structure and raising external capital.

Dame Pauline’s visit was to mark the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives, the first time the UN has granted such status to a business model.

To mark this occasion, nine cooperatives including CBH and Capricorn will feature on a new series of stamps to be launched this week.