IYC National Conference

Reports from the International Year of Co-operatives National Conference 24 - 25 October 2012, Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, New South Wales. Co-ops and credit unions play an important role in the regional economy in which Port Macquarie is located.  The region has a long history of high value co-operatives dating back to the early 1900’s - Norco Co-operative (1895), Hastings Co-operative Ltd (1916) and Nambucca River Co-operative (1903) - which has proven an effective system for market competitiveness particularly in agriculture. With Coffs Harbour Fisherman’s Co-operative, the combined turnover of these four co-ops in 2010 was more than $440m.
Credit unions and building societies in the 6 LGA-MNC region hold assets of $1.6 billion. The community has strong confidence in this financial sector with assets representing slightly over 10% of the state’s total assets for this sector – significant, as the MNC portion of the state population is only 3.4%

Brief reports on the conference follow. Read also - Co-operatives Urge New Era of Collaboration, IYC 2012 Australia, 2 November 2012

Building a Better Australia

Clayton's Manual

Co-op Democracy

Co-op Film Festival

Co-op Leadership Awards

Co-op  Mapping

Co-op Throw-Up

Co-op Values

Membership Loyalty

Mondragon Community

Next Steps

Outside CEOs

Process and Outcomes

The IYC Conference Workbook.

The reports from the conference from http://www.australia2012.coop:

• A broad based program
• Co-op Business Clinics
• Who knew Australians were so co-operative? National Mapping Project
• Media coverage
• Youth Summit
• Educators Forum – conference side event
• Year Book Launch: Building a Better Australia
• Co-operatives: It’s a cultural thing – Aboriginal Co-operatives in NSW
• Co-screen: 2012 Australian Co-op Film Festival
• Leadership Awards Dinner