Platinum partner address – Kathy Gramp

29 October 2025

Kathy Gramp, President Royal Automobile Association of South Australia Limited

BCCM Leaders’ Summit, Friday, 24 October 2025, Adelaide

Introduction

Good morning and welcome. Thank you for the excellent welcome to country and I would also like to pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging. I would also like to extend my respect and acknowledgement to all First Nations participants here today.

On behalf of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, RAA and all the event partners, I’m thrilled to welcome you to this flagship event.

It’s an important time for purpose-led business models. We thought the ‘Greed is Good’ ethos was behind us, but is it?

Our world is still dominated by big business and shareholder interest – and trust is in freefall. So now, more than ever, we should look to co-operatives and mutuals and the role they can play in our economies – and our communities.

Of course, it’s also the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. So, what an opportunity to showcase our sector, prove we are building a better world – and that we can, and should, play a bigger role in the economy.

Proudly mutual since 1903

The locals in the room are very familiar with the RAA – you’re probably members. We are the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia. We’re the largest and oldest mutual, and one of the most trusted brands, in the state.

It’s a bit of a cliché, but I joined the board in 2016 to make a difference. And like many of the companies here, we began life as a maverick – but today we have 834,000 members and represent more than 70 per cent of South Australian households.

We’ve come a long way since 1903. Founded by a small group of motoring pioneers, we like to think we helped solve range anxiety the first time back then – and we’re ready to do it again through electrification.

And at our core, we’re still mavericks, taking up the causes that matter most to our members.

As RAA Chair, I’m particularly proud of the way we represent our members and advocate on the issues that matter most to them.

The evolving role of mutuals and diversification

To be trusted, and relevant, for more than a century, you have to evolve and lead. Heritage isn’t enough and perhaps it means even less to the next generation?

But our purpose, to be better for members and better for our community, hasn’t really changed. We do this through our services, policy advocacy and our social impact – but we are making some big decisions about our future and what our members need for the next 120 years.

You’ll hear from some of RAA’s leaders – and other speakers today – about some of these challenges for the modern mutual and how we’re facing into them.

For RAA, with a history in roadside assistance, it was critical to expand our services and position ourselves for electrification and convergence of the car and home.

Last year, we launched RAA Energy out of a desire to give South Australians access to a trusted, fair and transparent electricity deal.

Our EV space has also rapidly evolved. Kick started with a competitive capital grant from the State, we recently completed the rollout of the state’s first border-to-border EV charging network, RAA Charge.

And there’s more to come.

Transition to company limited by guarantee

We also transitioned to a company limited by guarantee which was an important step for us and I’m sure others have been through the same process.

We’ve modernised RAA, and our governance, to match the size and complexity of our business. It also gives us access to new funding sources like Mutual Capital Instruments, which, over time, can enable organisations like ours to grow and scale to take on new opportunities.

Allianz partnership

Another critical step was our new insurance partnership with Allianz to underwrite our home and motor insurance business – with our people and services staying here in SA under our trusted RAA brand.

RAA achieved an industry-leading return on its investment in our insurance business – and it was one of the largest commercial transactions in South Australia for many years.

It provided an important injection of capital into the State, rebuilding our balance sheet and providing a legacy investment, which we will return in value to our members and through our community programs and giving.

Now, more than ever, we’re engaging with our members to understand what matters most to them.

Member engagement and long-term stewardship is critical for any member co-operative or mutual. As RAA Chair, I’m particularly proud of the way we represent our members and advocate on the issues that matter most to them.

We have an incredibly loyal membership, including a group we call our Gold 50 – who’ve been with us continuously, for more than 50 years. It’s a great reminder of the power of mutuals.

Just last week, I hosted several events and spoke with hundreds of our Gold 50 members. The trust and loyalty they place in RAA is humbling. These are the same people who volunteer in the community, and so many invisible roles we take for granted. We feel this responsibility, to them, and our social responsibility to the wider South Australian community, deeply.

As well as engaging with our members, developing connections and working together across the co-operative and mutual sectors is becoming increasingly important. We don’t just learn from each other – we can create scale and do things differently.

Today’s agenda

And that’s what the Business Leaders’ Summit aims to do. This is the only cross-sector event of its kind, bringing together a diverse mix of CEOs, managers and directors – with leading business thinkers, politicians, media representatives and researchers.

Today, we have an opportunity, to share our experiences of Strong, sustainable, purposeful leadership and ignite the conversation around transformative growth and increase political recognition of co-operatives and mutuals.

Panel discussions will delve into the co-op and mutual economy, explore the connection to government and the power of partnerships.

Finally, we’ll explore raising the profile of the work we do – what we call performance for purpose – and how we can ensure our sustainability. Our General Manager of Community and Corporate Affairs is on this panel – and it’s the last of the day, she promises to be entertaining, so stick around.

Introducing keynote speaker Andrew Pakes MP

Bringing co-ops and mutuals together, sharing global perspectives and experiences, can only help us to build a better, more equitable and sustainable world.

When the Starmer government came to power in 2024, the Labour Party pledged to double the size of the UK’s co-operative and mutual economy through strategic partnerships.

Removing many of the barriers to growth saw a record-breaking year for co-operatives and mutuals in the UK. The sector generated record income of more than 179 billion pounds, served nearly 66 million members and employed more than 1.5 million people.

We know organisations in the sector survive longer, create fairer workplaces, champion equality in leadership and reinvest in communities.

RAA is a testament to that – and we are still very much in the minority in corporate Australia with a gender-balanced Board and Executive team.

So today, we call on the Australian government to look to the UK example:

• where co-operative and mutual business models are used to deliver services at scale, and
• where healthy public and private partnerships can create social benefit.

This is something we’re excited about, and I know our CFO, Tim White, will be keen to talk about this today.

Perhaps we’re seeing a renaissance in the mutual economy in the UK? And who better to ask than our keynote speaker.

He is playing a vital leadership role in this transformation and it’s fabulous to have him here in Adelaide.

Mr Andrew Pakes is the Labour MP for Peterborough. He serves as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals and leads the UK Government’s engagement with the sector as its official envoy.

Andrew is a champion of co-operative housing and its potential to provide affordable and community-driven housing solutions. His work now focuses on expanding the co-operative economy, supporting businesses and communities built on mutual ownership and democratic principles.

We can’t wait to learn more. Please welcome, Mr Andrew Pakes.