A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons who voluntarily join together to meet common business, social and cultural needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
They are diverse organisations and are often regionally based supporting a wide range of industries including retail, agriculture, water distribution, manufacturing, taxi services and arts and crafts. In Western Australia all co-operatives must be registered with Consumer Protection.
There are nine steps to registering a co-operative which are described in detail on the Department of Commerce website.
