How large are co-operatives in Australia?
Most co-operatives are small organisations, in terms of their financial turnover. For example, in NSW, nearly 75% of the co-operatives had an annual turnover of less than $1.0 million during 2000/01 and only 4% of co-operatives had an annual turnover more than $10.0 million. In terms of turnover, the national turnover of general co-operatives in 2001 was estimated at around $ 4.5 billion, with co-operatives in NSW accounting for approximately 80% of this figure. As could be expected, the agricultural co-operatives in Australia generated nearly $ 2.6 billion revenue. However, it has to be noted that raw turnover figures often understate the real income of co-operatives as turnover in some co-operatives include only the commissions paid to the co-operative. In mid 2001, The total assets base of all credit unions amounted to $23.5 billion while the building societies had an assets base of 13.0 billion. Some of the co-operatives, especially those in the agri-business sector are large organ
