This is not a new situation. Since its formation in 1970, CFV has experienced difficulties in persuading the majority of Victoria's co-operatives to join the Federation.

Since 1970, CFV's income has been disproportionately dependent on a small number of large co-operatives. But, some of these long-term members have ceased to be co-operatives e.g. Pivot and VPC. Others are in the process of being demutualised. Bonlac Foods Limited is being demutualised by the New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra.

The challenge for CFV is to create and maintain relevance for existing and potential members and this is why there has been a major co-operative education initiative with the UK Co-operative College.

The perception of relevance is, of course, conditioned by the commitment of individual co-operatives, and in particular their boards and managers, to co-operative values and principles.

The 6th principle of co-operation adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance states: Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

A Federation is its members. What a Federation does or does not do depends on the members because ownership is democratic.  A co-operative cannot seriously argue that a Federation is not relevant if the co-operative refuses to join and participate in a Federation and, therefore, actively influence this relevance.

What this refusal really signifies is that a co-operative that is not a member of a Federation is not committed to the 6th principle of working together through national, regional and international structures. If there is a lack of commitment to the 6th principle, then, the co-operative's commitment to other values and principles may also be questionable.