Co-op Advocacy

Posted in: Co-op Advocacy, Co-op History
Co-operative Marketing
By David Griffiths
Dec 18, 2008 - 9:02:15 AM

Chapter 6 Public Policy, Statutory Marketing Authorities and Agricultural Cooperatives has applicability to the Australian Wheat Board and the Australian Government's challenge to wheat growers to develop their own proposals for a grower-owned wheat marketing body.

Cheong argues that there is an inadequate contemporary public policy framework for Western Australian agricultural co-operatives and argues that this diminishes the legitimacy and relevance of the co-operative structure. She also argues that it is discriminatory because it covertly privileges the corporate business model over alternative business structures.

Because of this, Cheong argues that Australia and Western Australia do not have a broad and integrated public policy framework for co-operatives supplemented by strong institutional supports and strategies to champion agricultural co-operatives.

Cheong argues that her interviews have shown that interview participants have revealed some confusion about the differences between Statutory Marketing Authorities and agricultural co-operatives and that sometimes it was unclear if interviewees were referring to Statutory Marketing Authorities or co-operatives. She says that this confusion was illustrated in interviews about Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd with many referring to it as a Statutory Marketing Authority.

Cheong's finding is critically relevant to the challenge by the Australian Government to growers to establish a new grower co-operative business or another hybrid corporation like the AWB. Clarity by growers will depend on a clear understanding of and agreement about ownership differences between a co-operative and a company.

Elizabeth Cheong, The Agricultural Co-operative Business Structure in Context: A Western Australian Study, A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Interdisciplinary), Faculty of Education and Arts, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, 2006

http://portal.ecu.edu.au/adt-public/adt-ECU2007.0022/01front_CheongE.pdf

http://portal.ecu.edu.au/adt-public/adt-ECU2007.0022/02body_CheongE.pdf