The Act says who is caught and what they owe. The Amendment Act 2024 is what brought Tranche 2 in. The Rules say what compliance has to look like. Almost every confusion about this regime is really a question about which of the three you are reading.
Orientation, not the words
This page tells you which instrument a question belongs to and where to look in it. Where you need the provision itself, read it on the Federal Register — every compilation ID here links there.
The short answers
People search for “the AML/CTF Act” and land on one of three different documents, which is why the same question gets three different answers. AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth) — Compilation No. 62 (C2026C00274) is the Act. AML/CTF Rules 2025 — F2026C00274 is the Rules. The Amendment Act is neither — it is the instrument that rewrote the first one in 2024, and its work now lives inside the Act.
The three documents
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth)
The primary legislation. It defines who is regulated, which services trigger obligations, what a reporting entity must do, and the consequences of not doing it. Whether the regime speaks to you at all is decided here, in section 6.
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (Cth)
The change that created Tranche 2. It extended the regime to real estate, legal, accounting, conveyancing, and dealers in precious metals and stones, rewrote customer due diligence, modernised virtual asset regulation, and repealed the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988. It is an amending Act, so its work now lives inside the Act above — you read it to understand what changed, not to find your obligations.
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025
The operational detail. The Act says what must happen; the Rules say what it has to look like — enrolment, what an AML/CTF program must contain, how customer due diligence is carried out, and the compliance officer requirements. Made by the AUSTRAC CEO rather than the Minister, which is a common slip, and it binds exactly as the Act does.
Inside the Act
The Act is long and most of it will never concern you. These are the parts that carry the obligations a Tranche 2 business runs into, in the order it tends to meet them.
| Part | What it covers | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Definitions, the designated service tables 1 to 6, and the geographical link. This is where you find out whether your business is regulated at all. |
| 2 | Customer due diligence | Identifying and verifying a customer before providing a designated service, and keeping that up to date — initial, ongoing, enhanced and simplified. |
| 3 | Reporting obligations | Suspicious matter reports, threshold transaction reports for cash at or above $10,000, and international funds transfer instructions. |
| 3A | Reporting Entities Roll | Enrolment with AUSTRAC — within 28 days of first providing a designated service. |
| 5 | Electronic funds transfer instructions | The information that must travel with a transfer so the payer and payee can be identified at each step. |
| 6–6A | Registers | The Remittance Sector Register and the Virtual Asset Service Provider Register. |
| 10 | Record keeping | Seven years, for customer identification, transactions and the reports you filed. |
| 11 | Secrecy and access | Who may access AUSTRAC information, and the confidentiality that binds a reporting entity. |
| 12 | Offences | The criminal offences for non-compliance, including tipping off — telling a customer that a suspicious matter report concerns them. |
| 15 | Enforcement | AUSTRAC’s enforcement powers, from remedial directions through to civil penalty proceedings. |
AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth) — Compilation No. 62 (C2026C00274)
What changed in 2024
Schedule 3 is the one that created Tranche 2. The rest matter because they changed obligations that already existed — most of all schedule 2, which rewrote customer due diligence for everybody, not only the new sectors.
| Sch | Subject | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AML/CTF programs and reporting groups | Replaces the designated business group model with a reporting group structure, and puts named responsibilities on the governing body and the AML/CTF compliance officer. |
| 2 | Customer due diligence | Redesigns CDD: initial before the service, ongoing through the relationship, enhanced for higher risk such as foreign PEPs and complex structures, simplified where risk is demonstrably low. |
| 3 | Additional high-risk services | The core of Tranche 2. Adds table 5 for real estate (2 items), expands table 2 for dealers in precious metals and stones, and adds table 6 for professional services (9 items covering lawyers, accountants, conveyancers and trust and company service providers). |
| 4 | Legal professional privilege | The compromise that ended a twenty-year standoff. Lawyers are caught for specific designated services — property, client money, company and trust formation — and not for legal advice or representation as such. |
| 5 | Tipping off and disclosure | Recasts the tipping-off offence around prejudicing an investigation, with clearer room for permitted disclosures inside a reporting group. |
| 6 | Virtual assets | Replaces “digital currency exchange” with “virtual asset service provider”, and reaches asset-to-asset exchange, transfer, custody and related services. |
| 7 | Bearer negotiable instruments | Updates the definitions for cross-border movement of physical instruments such as cheques, money orders and traveller’s cheques. |
| 8 | Transfers of value | Aligns with FATF Recommendations 15 and 16 — payer and payee information must accompany transfers, virtual asset transfers included. |
| 9 | Powers and definitions | New examination and information-gathering powers for AUSTRAC, and modernised definitions through the Act. |
| 10 | Exemptions | A framework for AUSTRAC to exempt where compliance would not be proportionate to the risk, exercised through the Rules. |
| 11 | Repeal of the FTR Act 1988 | Repeals the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988, the predecessor regime, so the obligations sit under one Act. |
AML/CTF Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) — Act No. 110, 2024
Whether the Act applies to you. That turns on the services you provide, which is section 6 and its tables — not on your profession, your size or your ABN. Two firms with the same shingle can land on opposite sides of it.
Sources
This content is general information only. It is not legal, financial or compliance advice. Organisations should check AUSTRAC guidance, legislation, their own AML/CTF Program and professional advice where needed. Published by GetPost Labs Pty Ltd, a technology company building compliance software. Compilation IDs last checked against the Federal Register on 18 August 2026. If you spot an error, tell us at australia@getpostlabs.io.
Lex-AML helps organise the obligations this legislation creates — program preparation, customer onboarding, due diligence and audit-ready records.