What the Act says it does
Section 4 is a simplified outline of the entire Act, written by the drafter. It is the shortest accurate description of the regime that exists, and it is the legislation rather than a commentary on it.
The following is a simplified outline of this Act:
- A reporting entity is a person who provides designated services. (Designated services are listed in section 6.). Lead entities of certain business groups (known as reporting groups) are also reporting entities.
- A reporting entity must have and comply with an AML/CTF program.
- A reporting entity must undertake initial customer due diligence before providing a designated service to the customer. However, in special cases, initial customer due diligence may be carried out after the provision of the designated service.
- Certain pre-commencement customers are subject to modified customer due diligence.
- Simplified customer due diligence may be undertaken in certain low risk circumstances as part of initial and ongoing customer due diligence.
- Reporting entities must report the following to the Chief Executive Officer of AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre): (a) suspicious matters; (b) certain transactions above a threshold.
- Certain information about international value transfer services must be reported to the AUSTRAC CEO.
- Cross-border movements of monetary instruments must be reported to the AUSTRAC CEO, a customs officer or a police officer if the total amount moved is above a threshold.
- Transfers of value must include certain information about the origin of the transferred value.
- Providers of registrable remittance services or registrable remittance network services must be registered with the AUSTRAC CEO.
- Providers of registrable virtual asset services must be registered with the AUSTRAC CEO.
- Financial institutions are subject to restrictions in connection with entering into correspondent banking relationships.
Inside the Act
Nearly every Part of the Act opens with a simplified outline of that Part. Each one below is quoted from the section that carries it. Parts 7 and 14 are absent because the Act gives them no outline.
s 26A Simplified outline, verbatim
See the practical AML/CTF program guide →s 27 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 40 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 51A Simplified outline, verbatim
s 52 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 63 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 73 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 76 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 94 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 101 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 104 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 120 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 135 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 144 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 173 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 208 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 230 Simplified outline, verbatim
s 233A Simplified outline, verbatim
s 233H Simplified outline, verbatim
s 234 Simplified outline, verbatim
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) — Compilation No. 62 (C2026C00274), compilation date 1 July 2026
The three instruments
Everything above is the Act. Two other instruments sit beside it, made by different bodies at different times: the Amendment Act 2024, which rewrote it, and the AML/CTF Rules 2025, which carry the operational detail and bind exactly as the Act does.
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.
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 management, customer onboarding, due diligence, and the records and evidence behind each decision.