How Big is the Australian Co-operative and Mutual Sector?

10 November 2017

Tracking the size and contribution of the co-operative and mutual (CME) sector in Australia is difficult – the government does not track it, and there is no agreed upon definition of a member-owned firm in Australia. The BCCM, in conjunction with the University of Western Australia, has been working to rectify this and has been gathering statistics on the sector since 2014.

This is the first year a ‘total value added’ figure has been produced for CMEs measuring the contribution the sector makes to GDP.

Professor Morris Altman, Dean and Head, Newcastle Business School, has crunched the numbers and found that CMEs contribute $140 billion in value added – 8% of GDP!

See Professor Morris Altman’s paper, The Size of Australia’s Co-operative and Mutual Sector.