Where this law came from · Episode 3
Here is the question nobody quite answers. If the world named the gatekeepers decades ago, why is Australia only regulating them now, in 2026? The honest history is worth knowing.
2006 — the first tranche
In 2006, Australia passed its AML/CTF Act. But it only switched on for part of the economy — the banks and the financial sector. That was tranche one. The professions were always meant to follow.
The gap
And then they waited. For nearly twenty years, the second tranche — the gatekeepers — was deferred. Reviews recommended it. It kept not happening. That gap became Australia's most-noted weakness.
A key element of the reforms is to expand the AML/CTF regime to certain services provided by gatekeeper professions … (also known as 'tranche two' entities).
So it isn't sudden, and it isn't personal. You are the second half of a plan written two decades ago. The banks went first. You were always the other half.
Twenty years, one tranche. Understanding the gap turns a surprise into a sequence — and puts you exactly where you belong in the story.