Recently the Queensland Parliament passed the Co-operatives National Law Act 2020 (Qld). This was a quiet but significant moment in the history of co-operative law in Australia. When this Act commences,2the Australian states and territories will, for the first time, have consistent laws for co-operatives. The advantage for co-operatives includes consistent terminology for two co-operative types (co-operatives will be either ‘distributing’ and ‘non-distributing’); a consistent reporting regime which is less onerous for ‘small’ co-operatives; mutual recognition of co-operatives registered in other states; and the ability to issue co-operative capital units (CCU’s) to members or non-members. However, the ‘Co-operative National Law’ is not a ‘national’ law in the sense that most would understand. It is not a law that has been passed by the Australian federal legislative body,the Commonwealth Parliament, rather,it is a template law that was introduced in 2012 by the State of NSW as the lead jurisdiction, as the Co-operative (Adoption of National Law) Act, 2012.