4: 53 p.m. Public relations expert Alex Cramb (Cramb was Communications Director for the ALP's 2007 Federal election campaign) attended the summit and gave his feedback. He said that the summit has been exciting. That this group represents many members. We represent a large movement. The Secretariat has done a great job bringing IYC this far. We sit on the verge of something very good.

The fundamentals of the cooperative movement are sound, they are not old fashioned.

How do coops grab attention. What is it you want to say? The different initiatives in this room are fascinating. How do we tell our story and who's going to tell it for us.

We need a key messages in five dot points.

We have about 100 stories straight up. These are the vehicles to use to promote growth and membership. We have a movement, we have members who can tell our stories for us.

Everyone here speaks with great pride and conviction. That is very powerful. We need to capture the hearts and minds of the decision  makers.

We've only got one year. After that it's international year of something else. We need to agree quickly on what ourmessages are. Pool our interesting stories. We need a spokesperson who carries your message. The five dot points.

The End

3:58 p.m. Discussion taking place about the potential role of a national body. A report from an attendee at the ICA gathering in Cancun that coop movements around the world are facing the same issues regarding communicating the strengths and successes of coops. See:


2: 43 p.m. The national levy has worked to a certain extent, similar to levels for the ICA and other national bodies. The participants discussed marketing strategies and a revised marketing strategy based on a realistic budget, with education as a focus, and a need to be clearer about relations with the state based federations.

2;20 p.m. Contributions to IYC will allow us to maximise the potential of 2012. It's not too late to talk to your board and make a contribution. Discussion was opened about what are the priorities for the secretariat to resource and whether we need to raise more budget. Responses from the floor included noting that many of the state federations are not present and are there mixed messages about whether we are working through state bodies or at a national level; the need to involve academia for research, and mainstream media - we need feature events for media coverage.

1: 53 p.m. Melina Morrison spoke about the opportunity for coops to determine what we as cooperators want to get out of the IYC. She summarised some of the discussion from the previous summit. Cooperatives Australia have produced a Top 100 list and this has been useful in educating decision-makers about coops. We need a fund to resource things like further research in this area. We are also starting to coordinate research about the cooperative sector, at a national level. The University of WA is also having a launch for IYC today. Melinda reported that to date one third of the projected fundraising budget has been achieved. If we are going to achieve the potential of what IYC offers it is important to achieve full support from the sector, and this includes financial.


1:41 p.m. We need to educate lawyers and accountants about the coop model. Our state federations are not able to be effective at a national level and this is why we need to cooperate at a national level. This has been demonstrated by what we have been able to achieve here today by cooperating across the states.


1: 30 p.m. Greg Wall spoke about the international launch of IYC. Although the Australian sector was the only country to make a presentation at the launch, the Australian government did not make a formal statement though, which was disappointing. The Australian delegation visited Occupy Wall St. This movement highlights the interest in structures such as coops.

12: 26 p.m. The Honorable Ursula Stephens congratulated Social Business Australia for stepping up to be the Secreariat for the IYC. This week is Social Inclusion week, which is appropriate for this launch. Cooperatives help communities to thrive. It gives people the opportunity to be ethical consumers. Seventy five per cent of Fair Trade products originate in third world coops

12: 21 p.m. Rod Stowe, NSW Fair Trading Comissioner is speaking about uniform cooperative law and the development of the supporting national regulations. The uniform law will reduce costs for coops operating across state jurisdictions. Coops will have easier access to financial markets without reducing their member control. Small coops will have less onerous financial reporting obligations. The successful completion of this legislation is due in 2012 and is a fitting recognition of the International Year of Cooperatives.


12:09 p.m. The Honorable Bill Shorten has just launched the IYC $1 coin. Dame Pauline Green, the President of the International Cooperative Alliance has addressed the launch via video. We are the first country to launch an IYC coin. Mark Degotardi from Abacus is speaking about the place of mutual banking in the Australian and international cooperative sectors, particularly in working with the most disadvantaged communities.

12:0 3 p.m. The Honorable Bill Shorten is now launching the IYC coin. He is speaking about the links between unions and cooperatives and the industrial action at Rochdale that Led to the formation of the first coop. He has talked about the difference of the mutual model as opposed to the 'rent seeking' model of business. The Gillard government seessees a bright future for mutuals. Australia's has the third largest mutual banking sector in the world, after the US and Canada.

11: 57 a.m. The Honorable David Bradbury is speaking about the Hepburn Wind Farm as an example of a cooperative working with the local community, balancing economic viability with social responsibility, and the role of cooperatives around the world in pulling communities out of poverty. The Australian IYC is now launched!

11: 53 a.m. Greg Wall has just spoken about the value of the cooperative model in Australia and the purpose of IYC. The Honorable David Bradbury is launching the IYC in Australia. He pointed out that there are more Australians who are members of mutuals than there are Australians who are shareholders in companies.