The Federation is the peak representative body for co-operatives in New South Wales.
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations, through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
In June of this year I received notification from our Executive Officer, Helen McCall, that she had decided to resign from the Federation. On behalf of the Board I would like to pass on our gratitude and thanks to Helen’s many years of dedicated service. The Board will continue its association with Helen who will provide her professional consultancy in the areas of training and development. In the short term the Board has also asked the Federation Secretary, Marie Winter, to provide administration and advisory support to the Board and Members. Both Helen and Marie will be working with Federation on a fee for service basis.
As we are a membership organization we are directly impacted by the prosperity of the members and this year has been a challenging one for your Federation. The total number of members has fallen slightly (from 80 to 78). This year’s trading figures are showing a deficit of $10,011 which is an improvement from our 2010 result, which was a loss of $17,891.
Your Board is currently undertaking a strategic review that is based around the future direction of the federation. At present we have been able to establish a structure that will be able to support the membership with the day to day queries. The Board, however, accepts that we need to set a clear vision that will see the Federation grow in the future. I would like to take the opportunity to ask the members to take a more active role in our Board, we have a number of Director positions available now.
It is also important that the Federation becomes more active in communicating the benefits of Co-operatives both to the sector and beyond. I think that we would all agree that we have a great story to tell and the Federation can open the doors to the sector growing in size and number, particularly in the year to come.
Next year, 2012, is the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives (IYC 2012) and the Federation is taking an active part in celebrating the year. At this stage we are planning to hold a major Co-op Conference late in 2012 more detail on this will follow in due course.
This year has been an active year in the development of the Co-operative National Legislation (CNL). Unfortunately the legislation did not reach the floor of the NSW Parliament, mainly because of the NSW State election in March. I am happy to report that we have been able to establish a close relationship with the new Minister for Fair Trading, The Hon Anthony Roberts, and his staff. We are confident that the legislation will be passed before the end of 2011. This passing of the legislation will open up a number of opportunities for the Federation to undertake training programs for Members and the broader Co-op sector.
Your Federation continues to play an active role in the Co-operative Council which continues to play a vital role in advising the Minister. We have also continued to work closely with Don Jones, the Assistant Commissioner, and we are confident that more training and development opportunities will eventuate with the Department.
Membership of Co-operatives Australia (CA) has continued as an avenue for addressing national matters. The list of Australia’s Top 100 Co-operatives, Credit Unions and Mutuals was updated and published during 2011. I had the opportunity to promote the Top 100 on Sydney radio 2GB and Melbourne radio MTR with Finance expert Ross Greenwood. The Co-op message was very well received and I am confident that more of these types of promotional opportunities will arise in the year ahead.
In last year’s report I mentioned that the Federation was part of a research group headed by the Pro Dean of Sydney University’s Faculty of Economics, Professor Greg Patmore. The group submitted a Co-operative Research Grant application under the ARC Linkage Project funding with the Federal Government. Unfortunately the grant application was declined, but we are hopeful another opportunity will arise in the near future. Meanwhile, we held the second event in co-operation with Sydney University, a dinner with a special guest speaker in Australia for an international co-operative research project meeting and symposium at the university. We hope to again have an event with this speaker, Ian MacPherson, when he is back in late 2011 to further international indigenous co-operative research.
In the last financial year the Federation undertook a number “Regional Training Workshops” where we visited a number of Co-op’s to do specific Board training. We find that these workshops are very useful and we will continue to do this for our regional members in the future.
Your Federation continues to make every effort to urge co-operatives to assist each other and to trade with each other, to build a more co-operative environment. We try to build relationships with co-operatives, government and media to raise awareness and encourage networks.
In closing I would like to take the opportunity thank Helen McCall for her many years of service to the Federation. At times it has been a difficult, sometimes lonely, role but I believe that we have all benefited from her passionate advocacy of the Co-operative movement. We wish her all the very best in the future and we look forward to her continued association.
Tony Rogic
Chairman of Directors
