| Newsletter 3 - 02/2002 | |
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ACCORD NEWS Spotlight on ACCORD ACCORD, the Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development is encouraging and promoting co-operative development and innovation. We hope to feature a co-operative case study in each issue of ACCORD NEWS. If you know of any co-operative-type organisation that is attempting to: introduce innovative ideas and solutions; building organisational capacity, or demonstrating successful practice; please let us know, or send us the contact details. During 2002 we will continue to examine and discuss the role of co-operatives, mutuals and other social economy organisations in Australia. We will also be bringing you informative articles on overseas research and development, which we hope will be of interest to you. During the course of the year, we will be conducting a readers' survey, and will contact you for feedback and suggestions. In the meantime, we welcome your comments and any ideas as to how we can stimulate dialogue on the future of co-operatives and mutual organisations.
Uri Windt Contents of this issue
Public Policy 1. Inquiry into community housing ACCORD has made a submission to the Inquiry into Community Housing being conducted by the Standing Committee on Social Issues of the NSW Legislative Assembly. The Standing Committee is currently holding hearings into community housing in NSW. The Committee will report on government-funded community housing, including the role of the sector in providing accommodation within the social housing system. The effectiveness of the community-housing sector in meeting the needs of its clients in a responsive and efficient manner will be assessed and appropriate models for community housing in rural, regional and metropolitan NSW will be identified. The inquiry is being conducted as requested by the Deputy Premier and Minister for Housing, the Hon. Dr Andrew Refshauge. The Committee will present a final report to the Legislative Council by 7 November 2002. The Committee held two hearings on 12 and 13 February 2002. Representatives of the Association of Resource Co-operative Housing (ARCH), Ms Karine Shellshear, Executive Officer and Mr Paul Van Ryek made a submission to the Committee at the hearing. A further hearing is scheduled for 16 April 2001. 2. Presentation on Mutuality and the Law ACCORD Research Fellow, Peter Boland recently presented a paper on mutuality and the law to Monash University's 12th Annual Corporate Law Teachers' Association Conference. Peter's paper was titled Enforcement of The Principles of Mutuality Under the Corporations Act 2001 - Is it Possible without Legislative Intervention? The paper explores whether the law as it currently stands in Australia recognises the unique structure and operation of mutual and co-operative organisations. Peter argues for a series of changes to the legislation. A copy of this paper is now available on the publications page of ACCORD's website. If you would like more information please contact Garry Cronan via e-mail: Garry.cronan@uts.edu.au. Development of Co-operatives 3. Number of active co-ops in NSW reaches 820 With the co-operatives sector experiencing steady growth throughout the 1990's, the number of active co-operatives in NSW reached 820 by the end of the year 2001. Twenty-one new co-operatives were formed in 2000, and sixteen in 2001. Four new co-operatives were formed in the last quarter of 2001, they are:
The number of co-operatives formed each year in the last 10 years has been inconsistent from year to year. Preliminary findings of a study being conducted by ACCORD on new co-operatives formed, identifies: promotion of co-operatives, both by government, and sector bodies, as a significant factor contributing to the growth of that sector. The study, which analyses formation patterns in broad categories, notes that most of the co-operatives formed in the 90's were producer co-operatives, such as trading co-operatives engaged in non-agricultural products, and human services co-operatives, including housing, and care provision categories. The majority of co-operatives were formed in Sydney, and approximately 48% of new co-operatives have their registered offices located in Sydney metropolitan areas. To read more, please visit here. 4. E-mail lists on co-operatives increase The number of e-mail lists on co-operatives has increased significantly in the past two years. Since the introduction of the "cooperative-bus" in 1996, a number of e-mail lists have been set up to discuss issues affecting co-operatives. The University of Wisconsin's Centre for Co-operatives initiated the "cooperative-bus" list, to address a need for a virtual forum on co-operatives. The topics discussed were wide ranging, and included the strengths and weaknesses of the co-operative form of business in solving people's economic and social needs. The most recently established e-mail lists concentrate more on specific areas of the co-operatives sector. These include the co-operative grocers' list, worker co-operatives list, and women and youth in co-operatives list. The dialogue taking place reflects some of the geographical biases, and the current political themes in the countries where they operate. To read more, visit the info-brief here. Co-operative Profile 5. Hastings Co-operative - a leader in community capacity building Established in 1916 to manufacture and market dairy products, Hastings Co-operative Ltd is now a major driving force in the community. The co-operative has over 7000 shareholders and processes national award winning milk and dairy products for 73 farmers at the factory in Wauchope. As the smallest milk packaging plant in NSW, the co-op is supplying niche markets with growing success, winning awards for a number of its dairy products including organic milk and bush food inspired yogurt - "honey and lemon myrtle." Nearly 200 local people are employed in the co-op's other successful businesses, including: a department store, farm services, two service stations with bulk fuel deliveries, and a supermarket. The return to the community has consistently been around 1/2 million dollars annually. Shareholders receive yearly dividends and rebate vouchers for business done with the co-operative. The co-op also supports many local clubs and community organisations through sponsorship. Secretary, Marie Winter points out that, "the money goes around in a circle, a very productive circle, and it works for us." To find out more about Hastings Co-operative, please email the secretary, Marie Winter: mariewinter@hastingscoop.com.au or click here for their profile. International Developments 6. Co-operative policy and legislation - Asia Pacific Co-operative Ministers' meeting The 6th Asia Pacific Co-operative Ministers' Conference will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 3-7 April 2002. Details of the conference program can be obtained from the ICA ROAP website at http://www.icaroap.org.sg. The second critical study on Co-operative Legislation and Policy in the region, jointly conducted by ACCORD for the ICA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the deliberations of Regional Consultation held in Iran last year will form the basis of discussions at the Conference. If you would like more details about the second critical study, or the conference please contact Garry Cronan at garry.cronan@uts.edu.au. Also visit the news-item for more details. 7. Co-operatives and social enterprise: the UK experience High levels of government interest has been focused on the role of social enterprise in creating sustainable economic and social regeneration. Importantly, the co-operative movement in the UK is playing a large role in the development and promotion of social enterprise to government. The high profile of UK co-operative leaders is evidence that the co-operative movement sees value in joining these increasingly important public policy debates. In contrast the Australian social enterprise movement appears to be developing independently of the established co-operative movement, notwithstanding the contribution of some 'co-operative identities'. However, there are still important lessons to be learnt from the UK experience. To explore these themes further and for links to some UK social economy websites, see the info-brief on our site. 8. .coop is live! .coop - the new Internet domain exclusively for co-operatives and credit unions has been given the green light from the U.S. Department of Commerce and is now a part of the Internet's Root Server, just like .com and .org. The .coop domain was made available to the worldwide co-operative community on January 30, 2002. .coop is described as a better alternative to .com and .org. It gives co-operatives a chance to differentiate themselves on-line, and get the web addresses they need for a strong on-line presence, addresses they could not obtain in the.com domain, as it had become crowded. Coming Events 9. ACCORD Seminar Series 2002 This year ACCORD will host a series of seminars on co-operative research and development. The first of our regional seminars is titled: Co-operative initiatives to strengthen regional communities. ACCORD's co-director, Kay Plummer will chair the seminar to be held on:
Thursday 21
March at James Cook International Convention Centre, Bathurst, The seminar will draw on the work of our keynote speakers, Dr Jo Barraket, Research Fellow, ACCORD and Dr. Gary Lewis, co-operative commentator. Jo Barraket is the author of a report commissioned by the NSW Fair Trading Advisory Council, Building Sustainable Communities: Co-operative Solutions to Rural Renewal. She will speak about the findings of the report, which focuses on the benefits of co-operative approaches to meeting local economic, social and environmental objectives. Gary Lewis will draw on the findings of his report, Laughing all the way to the credit union - the CreditCare Experience in No bank Towns, commissioned by ACCORD, to highlight the affects of bank closures on rural communities. He will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the CreditCare experience. The seminar will be of interest to: community development officers, program managers, elected representatives of local government, community housing officers, researchers, policy officers, credit union and other financial institution staff, social entrepreneurs and business leaders. For further information and registration please contact Suzanne Henderson or Carolyn Smeaton on (02) 95145121 or e-mail accord@uts.edu.au New ACCORD Titles and Recent Publications 10. ACCORD Annual Report highlights ACCORD recently released its second annual report. As Australia's only co-operative research and development centre, ACCORD has continued to play a key role in ensuring the development of co-operatives and the wider social economy. One of ACCORD's most notable achievements in 2001 was to win an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant. Funding of approximately $200K will be received over the next two years. The project, due to commence in early 2002, will examine the changing nature of Australian-based member organisations. The first series of ACCORD papers were published in 2001. These included five titles on the topics: Co-operatives in Spain and Ireland, and the role of co-operatives in rural and regional Australia. ACCORD sponsored and organised a number of seminars featuring leading co-operative speakers: Rob Church, USA; Dr Gary Lewis, Australia; Tom Webb, Canada; Professor Mike Cook, USA; Dr Byron Henderson, Canada and Shaun Fensom, UK. A series of internally initiated research projects were commenced. These included: a review of the CreditCare program; a new co-operative project, examining the trends and issues associated with recent co-operative formation in NSW; a project analysing the performance of co-operatives including balanced scorecard approaches, further work reviewing agricultural co-operation in Australia and internationally, and finally, a detailed review of the co-operative and mutual policy in Australia. Walgett No 1 Co-operative, a grain-marketing organisation from the NSW Central West engaged ACCORD to provide advice on an issue of the Co-operative Capital Units (CCU's). CCU's are a form of hybrid equity and this was only the sixth time such units have been issued in NSW. 11. ACCORD releases an annotated bibliography on agricultural co-operatives ACCORD has released an annotated bibliography on agricultural co-operatives, listing theoretical and empirical literature and selected overseas studies. The annotated bibliography includes more than 150 references to literature on both the theory and practice of agricultural co-operatives. It also provides an overview of the structure, strategy and evolution of selected agricultural co-operatives. Apart from presenting classical texts on agricultural co-operatives, the bibliography would assist in identifying recent trends in co-operative research. This publication would interest farming and general rural communities, including extension officers and managers of co-operatives, those involved in co-operative development, policymakers and rural development practitioners, and researchers on agricultural co-operation. More details of the bibliography is available as a news-item here.
We would
welcome your comments on our newsletter and any suggested topics or
items for inclusion in the next issue due for publication on 26 March
2002. If you have any items of interest please ensure that these are
forwarded to us by 20 March 2002. Disclaimer & Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this newsletter is intended for the named recipients only and may include privileged and confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not copy, distribute, or take any action in reliance on it. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in the newsletter is accurate but ACCORD, any of its Directors, staff, agents or associates, the University of Technology, Sydney, Charles Sturt University, staff, agents and associates of these universities, shall not be liable for loss or any other consequence, which may arise acting or refraining from acting as a result of material contained in this newsletter. ACCORD NEWS is published on-line by the Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development. |
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21 September 2006 11:36 AM
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