Co-operatives National Law
What is Co-operatives National Law?
Co-operatives National Law (CNL) is harmonised state and territory for registration of co-operatives (including the Co-operatives Act 2009 in Western Australia, which has a different name but is consistent with the CNL).
This means a registered co-op anywhere in Australia operates under one legislative framework but has a local regulator they have registered with and which is interpreting/implementing that framework.
The process of CNL being adopted by all the states and territories took from 2012 to 2020.
Who does this impact?
Of 1,800 co-ops and mutuals in Australia, about 1,400 are registered co-ops under CNL. They are across all sectors except financial services (financial services businesses must register as a company, such as all of the BCCM’s banking and insurance sector members).
A bit over a third of BCCM members/associate members are registered under CNL or represent a group of CNL co-ops.
Some members that are registered co-ops include: CBH, Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-op, The Barossa Co-op, Master Butchers Co-op, ILG, Tranby, Yenda Producers and Rapid Clean. Others like Common Equity Housing Limited or Co-ops WA have CNL co-ops as their members.
In growth sectors like aged care or housing where we are delivering co-op development programs or advocating for greater support for member-owned models, the predominant model is a co-op registered under CNL.
What are the issues with CNL?
There are two basic issues with the CNL:
- It hasn’t been amended in over a decade, so inevitably there are some gaps that have emerged as the wider business environment and regulatory environment has evolved.
- The legislation is consistent, but the implementation is by eight regulators who have varying levels of resources/expertise/interest in co-operatives. This means co-ops don’t generally receive a level of regulatory support comparable to companies.
What are the issues with CNL that the Modernising Australian co-operatives regulation report focuses on?
The BCCM published the Modernising Australian co-operatives regulation report in January 2025, following the BCCM’s 18-month industry consultation on modernising Co-operatives National Law
The BCCM made 15 recommendations in the report that speak to these two issues above.
They are across all stages of development of a co-op: formation, raising funds and operation/governance, so are relevant both to established co-ops in the BCCM membership and making it easier for new co-ops.
Some examples of recommendations:
- Reducing the legislated time a regulator has to pre-approve rules of a new co-op (currently 28 days, compared to being able to register a company in hours)
- Explicit provision for online general meetings in the legislation. (Western Australia has taken the view that the current legislation does not permit online general meetings.)
- Regulators combining their public registers of information about co-ops into one national, easy-to-access register. (Currently each state has its own procedures and forms to access this information, often paper-based. While a document from ASIC can be purchased and downloaded instantly.)
- Regulators publishing national guidance on the requirements for disclosure statements to raise funds in a co-op (there is no consistent, risk-based approach to use of debentures and CCUs. This discourages use.)
Next steps
The BCCM will use the Modernising Australian co-operatives regulation report to advocate for a review of the CNL by the NSW Parliament.
The BCCM is focused on NSW Parliament because it was the lead state in the drafting and roll out of CNL.