Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I understand Senator Madigan has had contact with the minister's office directly on this matter. Enterprise Connect is a major initiative introduced by the government in May 2008. It has supported more than 10,000 businesses through its national net­work. Enterprise Connect helps Australian small and medium enterprises develop skills, tools and knowledge needed to improve their competitiveness and productivity to maximise their growth potential.

I can inform the Senate that to date there have been very few cooperatives seeking to enter the program. While general eligibility requirements for the program require a business to have an ACN, this is not restricting cooperatives from accessing the program. Where a cooperative has made an approach, the department has requested the applicant make a case for admission based on their ability to absorb and utilise the services provided by Enterprise Connect. The department has been able to consider these requests as exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

In response to Senator Madigan's principal question, cooperatives are able to participate nationally in Enterprise Connect's work­shops, industry intelligence and networking, and knowledge dissemination activities. In the case of creative industries, cooperatives may access the Creative Industries Innova­tion Centre's monthly Biztro service. Further, in remote areas cooperatives are eligible for Enterprise Connect's core services if they meet the Remote Enterprise Centre eligibility requirements, which do not require an ACN. I also note that cooperatives have a range of legal structures. Most operate as corporations, either as publicly listed companies or publicly unlisted companies, and they typically have an ACN. Some are incorporated under state and territory law. All of these are eligible entities.