Hon Patrick Gorman MP: The values of co-operatives and mutuals are Australian values

23 October 2024

The Hon Patrick Gorman MP, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service opened the 2024 BCCM Leaders’ Summit. Below is his speech.

The values of co-operatives and mutuals are Australian values. A fair go. Egalitarianism. The unavoidable truth that the Australian people are stronger when we come together.  And Australian mutuals and cooperatives are there from our very first breaths.

HBF was there when my son, Leo, was born in 2017. You are also there when things don’t go to plan. The RAC was there for me when I was 17. Behind the wheel of my grandmother’s Ford Festiva. And I accidentally remodelled the front of the car while driving in the rain.

You quite literally put food on our tables. Like CBH and Dairy Farmers. And five million Australians who rely on mutuals, credit unions and building societies for their banking needs.

You help people fulfil the dreams they have for themselves and their children. Lifting us all up and taking us forward. Together. And in this state, they have been doing it for a lot longer than just my lifetime.

History of mutuals and co-ops in Western Australia

In 1867 the Perth Town Hall was under construction. Some 17,000 people lived here. And rising living costs led the staff of the P&O Company in Albany to seek a pay rise.

The Company agent, William Clifton, declined. He had a better plan. Advising the staff to form a co-operative society. Giving Western Australia its first, but not last, co-operative with the Albany Co-operative Society.

The word, and benefits, spread throughout the state. WA farmers noticed. And in 1914 they registered The Westralian Farmers Limited.

Welcomed with an enthusiastic editorial in The Westralian Worker. Stating:

“…the protecting bonds of united action, defensive and offense, [in which] the dingoes of commerce can be held at bay and eventually exterminated”

The Westralian Farmers Limited became the publicly-listed company:

Wesfarmers. So what is now Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks and more began as a social movement.

Historian Bruce Baskerville writes:

“The founding of the co-operative movement during the Great War harnessed a new social formation in Western Australia.”

Co-ops and mutuals enabled farmers to create the Wheatbelt. Drawn to the promise of securing their own land and working together.

The influence of co-operatives and mutuals has transformed this state. Bulk handing of wheat requiring the invention of new rail stock and storage facilities. The development of standardised fruit and vegetable crates and packaging. More efficient cool and cold storage and transport for dairy products. And in fishers’ co-operatives, the development of frozen and then live export technologies for crayfish.Crucial technology which will be relied upon by the nation as our rock lobster trade resumes with one of our major consumers, China.

Western Australia would not be the state we know and love today without the influence of co-operatives and mutuals.

Co-operatives and mutuals in Australia

Co-ops and mutuals have an important place in our national story, too. They are play a unique role in our economy, and one that is valued and respected by the Albanese Government. Just this weekend, the Prime Minister was up in the Mid West, and out on the water with the Geraldton Fisherman’s Co-op. Making sure our restored rock lobster trade continues to protect the many jobs this industry supports.

The Geraldton Fisherman’s Co-op is just one of the 1,819 co-operatives and mutuals operating across Australia, with some 34.8 million memberships. Together, directly employing more than 89,000 people. Jobs at NRMA, RAC, HCF and more.

Eight in 10 Australians are members of least one co-op or mutual including industry funds. The largest co-op or mutual by revenue is Western Australia’s grain distributor, CBH Group at $6.19 billion.

United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2025

For those not familiar with the UN international years system, I say one thing: You need to talk to more farmers.

Over the last decade or so the United Nations has declared the following:

• The International Year of Quinoa in 2013
• The International Year of Soils in 2015
• The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables in 2021
• The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture in 2022

So there has been a lot going on for those of you in agriculture. And the choice to declare 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives and Mutuals marks the importance of this sector for the entire world.

The co-op and mutual sector has tremendous capacity to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN calls the cooperative movement ‘highly democratic, locally autonomous, but internationally integrated.’

Because globally there are 3 million cooperatives. More than 12% of the global population is a member of a cooperative. Providing jobs or work opportunities to 280 million people across the globe.

Their open membership model means more equal access to wealth creation and poverty elimination. By making people the focus of their enterprise, co-operatives and mutuals distribute wealth in a fairer way. They foster external equality. Those values of the fair go and egalitarianism. Overcoming poverty. Creating jobs.

Looking to the future

The co-operative and mutuals business community is rightly focused on competition and choice, manufacturing and onshore production. Mutuals exist, in part, to drive competition in our markets.

The Treasurer announced the Competition Review on 23 August 2023. The Review  is looking at competition laws, policies and institutions to ensure they remain fit for purpose for the modern economy. With a focus on reforms that would increase productivity, reduce the cost of living and or lift wages – including the biggest reforms to our merger laws in 50 years, recently introduced to Parliament.

A future made in Australia

This sits alongside the Albanese Government’s Future Made in Australia plan.

Committing $1.5 billion to manufacturing clean energy technologies. Developing a National Robotics Strategy, to promote the responsible production and adoption of robotics and automation technologies for advanced manufacturing in Australia. And expanding eligibility to the New Energy Apprenticeships Program. This will provide access to $10,000 incentive payments and support our target of 10,000 new energy apprentices.

Supporting small business

Our “Buy Australian Plan” is about helping small businesses compete for and win more Government contracts. Updating the Commonwealth Procurement Rules to increase significantly the small and medium business participation target. Improving AusTender to make it easier to identify small and medium businesses on government panels.

Conclusion

I will conclude my remarks with this final insight.

The Albanese Government shares a vision with your sector.

No one held back, and no one left behind.

An idea that has shaped Western Australia into the economy and society we are today. Here in one of the largest and most sparsely populated parts of the entire globe. With one of the world’s most isolated capital cities.

We work together to overcome obstacles of geography, isolation, security and much more. We are there for one another.

I am grateful for every time mutuals and coops have been there for me and my family. And I am excited to see what the International Year of Cooperatives will bring next year.

Thank you.

Republished from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet website.