up” – that he was “blown away” by
the cooperative business model.
He was inspired to change
careers and, after completing his
improve worker conditions.”
Dr Turnbull has recently
PhD, Dr Turnbull worked with a become a director of Sydney-
local authority in cooperatives based The Cooperative Life. He
development before establishing plans to support its expansion
his own consultancy. He then met a into South Australia – and grow
woman named Margaret Elliot who in a similar fashion to CASA.
was running a care cooperative in
He has been in Australia for much
Sunderland, and along with two of the past eight months, as the
others they founded CASA in 2004. prestigious ‘Thinker in Residence’
Dr Turnbull was Managing
in Adelaide, a position which
Director of CASA until mid-2018, involved spreading the word on why
taking Margaret’s original business cooperatives are the way forward for
format providing 3,000 hours of care disability and aged care in Australia.
a week to providing 25,000 hours of
He believes the National
care a week, in home, for people with Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
disability and older people. makes Australia well placed for a
CASA was founded on the basic
premise that employee ownership
cooperatives ‘boom’.
“With the NDIS, ageing
generates greater employee population and demand for more
engagement which delivers higher in-home care, the workforce is going
quality care. to be a huge issue,” he said.
“Workers who have a stake in the
Dr Guy
Turnbull in
Adelaide.
“This makes the business more
successful and in turn you can
“Australia needs a strategic
business and a share in the profits approach to recruitment and
are more engaged and we know an retention, and care – rather than
engaged workforce will provide the becoming casualised – needs to
best care,” Dr Turnbull said. become a profession again.
industry
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