Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), Media Release, 25 March 2025

Below a statement from the chief executive of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), Melina Morrison, on the Federal Budget handed down this evening [25 March 2025].

Aged care:

“The significant expansion of aged care and housing policies unveiled in the Federal Budget will ensure many Australians can now rightly expect a better quality of life.

“The co-op sector looks forward to expanding the Care Together program with a particular focus on providing more comprehensive aged care services around the nation and particularly in regional areas.

“The announcement of a $2.4 million extension of this program will allow the BCCM to build on the current nine co-ops planned in this sector and deepen their involvement to include business collaboration and further geographic expansion to ensure the elderly can continue to live in towns and regions where they have spent much of their life.”

“Further funding for this program means the BCCM and the co-op sector can deliver business resources and professional support to the aged, disability and veterans’ care sectors. This is an integral part of the ongoing delivery of aged care reforms and the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.“

Housing:

Ms Morrison said the BCCM welcomed the government’s commitment to expand the Housing Australia Future Fund, in which rental housing co-operatives should play a significant role.

She said: “The BCCM welcomes further measures to address Australia’s housing affordability crisis, including the expansion of the Housing Australia Future Fund. Government recognition of rental housing co-ops as a distinct and important model is growing but to date has not yet translated into any dedicated policy measures for the sector.”

Food and retail:

• $2.9 million over three years to assist fresh produce suppliers to understand and enforce their rights under the Food and Grocery Code to achieve more favourable commercial outcomes when negotiating with large grocery businesses.
• $50 million over four years to provide access to low cost essential products for 76 remote First Nations stores.
• $3.5 million over two years from 2025–26 to develop a National Food Security Strategy.

Ms Morrison said: “Agricultural co-ops, retailers’ co-ops and consumer-owned retail co-ops all have important roles to play in a fairer food value chain. Off the back of the ACCC’s final report in its supermarket inquiry, the measures to support farmers to bargain effectively and for lower pricing of essential goods in remote First Nation stores are sensible.

“The BCCM will ask the government to ensure producers know about bargaining co-operatives as a model for getting better outcomes with supermarkets. A broadened focus on support for community-owned regional stores alongside remote First Nations stores would be welcome, given the ACCC’s recommendation on supporting community-owned stores in thin markets was not limited to First Nations communities.”