Australian & New Zealand Perspectives on the Co-operative Identity
Australian & New Zealand Perspectives on the Co-operative Identity
The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), the global apex for the co-operative and mutual movement, is holding a worldwide consultation on the Co-operative Identity. With an estimated 1 billion members and 3 million co-op businesses worldwide, how co-ops are perceived and how they behave is driven by the underlying principles and values that guide them.
Joining with our Australian counterpart, the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), we invite our business leaders, your members, academics, service providers and key stakeholders to participate in an online discussion to explore how we think about, communicate, and live our co-operative identity as member-based businesses.
In an age of ESG and B Corp, our organisations are positioned for the future we currently face into. We want to ensure as first-world economies, that our principles propel and advance our business success and provide us with competitive advantage.
About the Statement on the Cooperative Identity:
The ICA is the global steward of the Statement on the Cooperative Identity – the Values and Principles of the cooperative movement. In 1995, the ICA adopted the revised Statement on the Cooperative Identity which contains the definition of a co-operative, the values of cooperatives, and the seven cooperative principles described below. You can also consult the Guidance Notes on the Cooperative Principles and Values which give detailed guidance and advice on the practical application of the Principles to the cooperative enterprises.
- Open and voluntary membership
- Democratic Member Control
- Member Economic Participation
- Member autonomy and independence
- Education, Training and Information
- Co-operation amongst co-operatives
- Concern for community (social responsibility)
Join us for this webinar where you will gain an understanding of this piece of work and can contribute our views to the ICA. New Zealand in particular has a significant reliance upon our co-op and mutual businesses for our economy and communities, so please make sure our members have a voice and participate in the conversations.
To gain access to the webinar link, please register your attendance here and save the date to your calendar.
Presenters:
Melina Morrison, CEO, BCCM and Co-Vice Chair
Co-operative Identity Advisory Group Melina Morrison has been a driving force for change in the cooperative movement for two decades. She is the founder CEO of Australia’s first national body for cooperatives, the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM). Under Melina’s leadership, the BCCM has achieved fundamental reforms to level the playing field for cooperatives. She commissioned the first study on the size and impact of Australia’s cooperative sector creating the first evidence base to advocate for better support for cooperatives. Melina also led the development of Mutual Value Measurement, a framework to measure the total value created by coops, with research partner Monash University. Melina was at the forefront of advocating and developing amendments to Australian law, opening new opportunities for cooperative businesses to access capital to grow whilst safeguarding their cooperative status for future generations. Melina is a director of Australian Mutuals Foundation which funds development of financial cooperatives in South-East Asia. Melina is a former editor of the ICA Digest and worker on the ICA’s International Year of Cooperatives and Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade communications campaigns.

Roz Henry joined Cooperative Business as CEO in 2019. She has worked with the board to implement a strategy to build greater knowledge and understanding of the model by our government, expand capability across our business communities governors and leaders along with establishing key partnerships. This is critical given the importance of co-op’s and mutuals to the New Zealand economy. Roz’s earlier career laid the foundations for her joining Cooperative Business NZ. Starting out with the New Zealand Dairy Board (now Fonterra) one of our largest co-op’s globally, followed by an extensive period management consulting domestically and internationally, working with a range of corporates, co-operatives and government agencies, along with heading up operations within a regional government agency, has enabled her to utilise this experience and network to best support our business community.



