Business Groups, Business Interest Associations and Co-operatives: Peak National Co-operative Associations in Australia 1920–2023

This paper examines peak national co-operative associations. It initially explores the business and co-operative history literature relating to these peak bodies highlighting the concept of Business Industry Associations. It then briefly explores the history of long-standing peak national co-operative associations in the US and the UK. By contrast the Australian experience has been one of limited progress until the formation of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals in 2013. There are a number of factors that explain the Australian experience including ideological conflicts, state-based co-operative legislation, the autonomy of state based federations, separate peak national bodies for financial co-operatives, and Neoliberalism. The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals does not follow the theorized pattern of formation for Business Industry Associations and its brief history highlights the dependence of Business Industry Associations on recognition by the State for their survival.