The Federation is the peak representative body for co-operatives in New South Wales.
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations, through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
The submission by the Federation to the draft National Co-operatives Law can be accessed here.
After extensive study of the draft by the working party, a workshop was held for the sector to explore the draft at the time of the Co-operative Opportunities conference on February 17, 2010 at Sydney University Village. The working party spoke in general terms about the draft and answered questions from those present. Additional comments were gathered to add to the submission and then questions were asked of the responsible legal officer from the Registry. It was a productive afternoon and added to the value of the submission.
The sector has been lobbying for changes to the co-operatives legislative framework for some years but the complexities of co-ordinating uniform legislation between the States has meant it has been a long time coming. Some time ago the Ministerial Council decided not to pursue the current system of uniform legislation, but to change to template legislation, where one State introduces a new Act and the other states simply adopt that Act, rather than write their own. However the creation of this system has been a long process.
The draft was released on December 11, 2009 and only a short eleven week consultation period was allowed by the regulators, with the hope of having the final legislation passed in NSW during 2010.
The Co-operative Federation of NSW approached a small group of co-operators to form a working party to examine the draft from the viewpoint of prospective co-operative users. The deadline for comments was February 26, 2010. We were very conscious of the short time frame this represented but were unable to obtain an extension.
To access the draft legislation, go to http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/co-operatives_and_associations/co-operatives/co-operatives_national_law.pdf
To access the Impact Statement which compares the existing and proposed legislation, section by section, go to http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/co-operatives_and_associations/co-operatives/Regulatory_impact_statement.pdf.
Thanks for your co-operation. If you have any queries, don't hesitate to contact Helen McCall by email or on (02) 4938 5308.
To check out the other submissions made, visit the Fair Trading website
