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Learn · open to everyone

Understand the law·in its own words

An orientation to Australia’s AML/CTF regime, in the order we’d take a newly-regulated business through it — enough to understand what the regime asks of you and where to look next. Every claim points to a registered compilation of the Act or the Rules, with the section and the printed page on screen, so you can open the same words and check us.

Watch on YouTube — @lex-aml
29
short videos
30
verbatim law blocks
5
parts, in reading order

No email wall · no fear-selling · no guidance dressed up as law

Open · this page

Learn — understanding, for everyone

Plain-English orientation to the regime, open to every Australian — whether or not you ever become a customer.

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The Training Academy

Role-based courses inside the workspace — assessed, personalised to your program, and kept as training evidence. This is how a reporting entity discharges its training duty.

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Part 1

Where this law came from

Start with the background, because it answers the quiet first question every newly regulated business has: who decided this, and why us? From FATF down to the Australia–US comparison, and the Government's own costing of the reform.

  1. Watch
    #FATF

    What is FATF? The 40 Recommendations behind Australia's AML law

    Not Australian, not elected — and the origin of nearly every obligation in your program. How FATF's standards become law you must follow.

    1 law block
  2. Watch
    #Gatekeepers

    Why real estate agents, lawyers and accountants are called gatekeepers

    The international logic behind Tranche 2: why these professions were named together, decades before Australia acted on it.

    1 law block
  3. Watch
    #Tranche2

    Why Australia took 20 years to bring in Tranche 2

    The honest history of the gap — the reviews, the deferrals, and what finally changed. Context that makes the 2026 reforms make sense.

    1 law block
  4. Watch
    #GreyList

    FATF mutual evaluations and the grey list — how countries are marked

    Who checks whether a country follows the standards, what a mutual evaluation involves, and what grey-listing actually does to an economy.

    Plain English
  5. Watch
    #FinCEN

    Australia's Tranche 2 vs the US FinCEN real estate rule — compared

    In the same year both countries brought real estate into their AML regimes. Same problem, very different design — and what the contrast reveals.

    Plain English
  6. Watch
    #RegulatoryCost

    The $13.9 billion document — inside the Tranche 2 Impact Analysis (Part 1)

    Where the Tranche 2 cost figures actually come from: the Government’s own Impact Analysis, the $13.9 billion estimate, and the caveats the document places on its own numbers.

    2 law blocks
  7. Watch
    #ComplianceCost

    Why the $23,250 compliance figure isn't your bill (Impact Analysis, Part 2)

    The $28,650 and $23,250 figures opening every sales pitch are averages from the Impact Analysis, not a quote for your firm. What the numbers actually describe, and where the real cost sits.

    Plain English
Part 2

Who runs it, and what binds you

Before any obligation, the regulator and the instruments. These two videos give every citation in the channel its footing.

  1. Watch
    #AUSTRAC

    What AUSTRAC actually does — regulator and intelligence unit in one

    AUSTRAC wears two hats. Understanding both explains almost everything about how your obligations are set and enforced.

    1 law block
  2. Watch
    #AUSTRACGuidance

    The Act, the Rules and guidance — which ones legally bind you

    A small stack of instruments, and only part of it is law. What binds, what merely guides, and why every citation points to a registered compilation.

    Plain English
Part 3

The regime, plainly

The practical core, in the order a business meets it: why you are covered, the service test, enrolment as step zero, then the program, the people, the reports and the records.

  1. Watch
    #ReportingEntities

    Why the AML/CTF Act 2006 now applies to your business (Tranche 2)

    From 1 July 2026 real estate, legal, conveyancing, accounting and dealer businesses became reporting entities. Why it happened, and why it is not an accusation.

    2 law blocks
  2. Watch
    #DesignatedServices

    The 13 designated services — is yours on the list? (s 6, Tables 2, 5 & 6)

    You are not covered because of your profession. You are covered because of a service the Act names. Here are all thirteen, read straight from section 6.

    2 law blocks
  3. Watch
    #SmallBusinessAU

    Designated service, not profession — and no small-business exemption

    Two beliefs cause the most trouble: that this is about your profession, and that small firms are exempt. The Act says otherwise — here is the actual test.

    1 law block
  4. Watch
    #Enrolment

    Enrolling on the Reporting Entities Roll — the 28-day deadline (Part 3A)

    Before you check a single customer there is a step zero: putting your business on AUSTRAC's register. What enrolment requires, and the deadline people miss.

    1 law block
  5. Watch
    #AMLProgram

    How big does your AML program need to be? Proportionality (s 26C)

    The Act scales to your size and risk. What “appropriate to the nature, size and complexity” actually means, and an honest picture of the burden.

    2 law blocks
  6. Watch
    #ComplianceOfficer

    What the AML/CTF compliance officer must do — the four functions (s 26L)

    Every reporting entity must name one person. The four functions section 26L gives them — and why the role is oversight, not doing everything yourself.

    2 law blocks
  7. Watch
    #BeneficialOwner

    Who is a beneficial owner? The 25% ownership and control test (s 5)

    When your customer is a company or a trust, you are really dealing with the people behind it. The 25% test, control, and what you must establish.

    1 law block
  8. Watch
    #TTR

    Cash over $10,000 — threshold transaction reports and structuring (s 142)

    One number to memorise. What triggers a threshold transaction report, and why splitting a payment to stay under it is a criminal offence under section 142.

    2 law blocks
  9. Watch
    #SMR

    When must you file a suspicious matter report? 3 days or 24 hours (s 41)

    Suspicion is the most misunderstood word in the regime. What legally forms a suspicion, and which of the two statutory deadlines applies to you.

    1 law block
  10. Watch
    #ComplianceReport

    SMR, TTR or compliance report — which one, and when?

    The three reports you must actively make. What triggers each, how long you have, and one clear map of all three together.

    2 law blocks
  11. Watch
    #FinancialIntelligence

    What happens after you file a report to AUSTRAC?

    You file a report. Then what? Where it goes, who acts on it, and exactly where your responsibility ends — the most reassuring video in the series.

    Plain English
  12. Watch
    #RecordKeeping

    Which records must you keep for 7 years? (s 107)

    Strip the regime back and it is about memory — proving years later what you knew and what you did. Which records, and how long each is held.

    1 law block
  13. Watch
    #AUSTRACNotice

    If AUSTRAC sends you a notice — what it can ask, and what happens next

    A calm walkthrough of AUSTRAC notices and information requests: what they can require, what the consequences are, and why preparation removes the fear.

    1 law block
  14. Watch
    #ComplianceOfficer

    Just named compliance officer? Your first 30 days (s 26J–26M)

    You have just been designated your firm’s AML/CTF compliance officer — possibly without being asked. A four-week plan built from the Act itself, including the 14-day notice to AUSTRAC most new officers do not know about.

    1 law block
Part 4

The whole picture

The capstone: every piece assembled into one system, from FATF down to the viewer's own desk. The natural video to pin on the channel.

  1. Watch
    #Tranche2

    Australia's whole AML/CTF system explained — FATF down to your desk

    Every piece assembled into one picture: from international standards, through the Act and the Rules, to the check you do at your own desk.

    Plain English
Part 5

Your profession, plainly

The same regime, read against one profession at a time. Each video starts from the designated service that brings that sector into scope — in the Act's own words — then the routine, the program behind it, and the records.

  1. Watch
    #DesignatedServices

    Real estate agents — what the law actually asks of you (s 6, table 5)

    You are not covered because you are an agent — you are covered because of one specific service, in the Act’s own words. What the law asks of a real estate agency, from the everyday gate to the records.

    1 law block
  2. Watch
    #DesignatedServices

    Lawyers — trust money, transactions and privilege (s 6, table 6)

    Trust money, transactions and privilege. Which legal services are designated under s 6, table 6 — and how the obligations sit alongside a practice’s existing duties.

    1 law block
  3. Watch
    #DesignatedServices

    Conveyancers — settlements under the new law (s 6, table 6)

    Settlements under the new law: the designated service that brings a conveyancing practice into scope, and the routine it asks for around each matter.

    1 law block
  4. Watch
    #DesignatedServices

    Accountants — which services put you in scope (s 6, table 6)

    Which accounting services put a practice in scope — company and trust formation, managing client money, acting on transactions — read from s 6, table 6 rather than from the profession’s name.

    1 law block
  5. Watch
    #CashThreshold

    Jewellers & dealers — the $10,000 cash line (s 6, table 2)

    The $10,000 cash line for dealers in precious metals, stones and jewellery: when a sale becomes a designated service, and what has to happen when it does.

    1 law block

All 29 are produced and published. Every part is law only — no product, nothing to buy.