What is the AML/CTF Act? Australia's AML law explained
The AML/CTF Act 2006 explained: who it covers, its main obligations, how it fits with the Rules and AUSTRAC guidance, penalties, and the 2024 changes.
The AML/CTF Act is the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, the Commonwealth law that sets Australia's rules for detecting and deterring money laundering and terrorism financing. It applies to any business that provides a "designated service", such as a bank, a casino or, since 1 July 2026, an accountant, lawyer or real estate agent doing certain work. Those businesses are reporting entities: they must enrol with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), run an AML/CTF program, check their customers, report to AUSTRAC and keep records. The anti-money laundering Act was substantially rewritten in 2024.
- Full name
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006No. 169, 2006. Royal Assent 12 December 2006
- Regulator
- AUSTRACAlso Australia’s financial intelligence unit. The Department of Home Affairs administers the Act
- Who it covers
- Reporting entities: anyone who provides a designated serviceListed in the six tables of section 6, with a geographical link to Australia
- The detail
- AML/CTF Rules 2025, made by the AUSTRAC CEOIn force from 31 March 2026 (section 229)
- Latest big change
- AML/CTF Amendment Act 2024 (No. 110, 2024)Tranche 2 businesses regulated from 1 July 2026
- Maximum civil penalty
- A$36.4 million per contravention, companyA$7.28 million for an individual. Australia’s AML/CTF Act 2006 (s 175): 100,000 and 20,000 penalty units at A$364, the rate from 1 July 2026
Sources: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (ss 26E, 26F, 26K, 26M, 175); Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025; AUSTRAC, AML/CTF Rules Reviewed
This page is for accountants, lawyers, conveyancers, real estate agents and the other businesses brought in by Tranche 2. It explains who the Act covers, its main obligations, how it fits with the AML/CTF Rules and AUSTRAC's guidance, the penalties, and what the 2024 Amendment Act changed.
What the Act is
The Act is No. 169 of 2006. It received Royal Assent on 12 December 2006 and came into force in stages, with customer due diligence starting in December 2007 and reporting in December 2008. The current text on the Federal Register of Legislation is compilation 63, in force from 1 October 2026. The Department of Home Affairs administers the Act. AUSTRAC, which the Act continues in existence, is Australia's AML/CTF regulator and its financial intelligence unit.
Section 3 sets out the Act's objects. They include measures to "detect, deter and disrupt money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other serious financial crimes", getting information to the agencies that investigate and prosecute them, and meeting Australia's international obligations, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.
Who the Act covers
The Act turns on what you do, not what you are. Section 5 defines a reporting entity as a person who provides a designated service, or the lead entity of a reporting group. Section 6 lists the designated services in six tables:
| Table | Covers |
|---|---|
| 1 | Financial services, such as accounts, loans, remittance and virtual asset services |
| 2 | Bullion, and precious metals, stones and products |
| 3 | Gambling services |
| 4 | Prescribed services |
| 5 | Real estate services |
| 6 | Professional services, such as creating or restructuring a company or trust, handling client money or property, selling shelf companies, acting as a nominee director or shareholder, and providing a registered office address |
Tables 5 and 6 were added by the 2024 Amendment Act. A service is only caught if it has a geographical link to Australia (section 6(6)): broadly, it is provided through a permanent establishment in Australia, or by an Australian resident or a subsidiary of an Australian company through an establishment overseas. Barristers acting on a solicitor's instructions are excluded. For accountants, our guide to designated services for accountants works through table 6 item by item.
The main obligations
AUSTRAC's summary for Tranche 2 businesses groups the Act's obligations as below. Section numbers are from the Act.
- Enrol with AUSTRAC no later than 28 days after you first provide a designated service (section 51B). Our guide to AUSTRAC enrolment covers how.
- Have an AML/CTF program (Part 1A): an up-to-date assessment of your money laundering and terrorism financing risks, and policies that manage and mitigate them, suited to the nature, size and complexity of your business. The program is approved by a senior manager and overseen by your governing body.
- Appoint an AML/CTF compliance officer (section 26J) at management level, with enough authority, independence and resources, who is a fit and proper person, and tell AUSTRAC who it is.
- Carry out customer due diligence (Part 2): initial checks before you provide the service (section 28), ongoing checks during the relationship (section 30) and enhanced checks where the risk is high (section 32). The steps are in our customer due diligence checklist, and for clients that are companies or trusts in our guide to CDD for company and trust clients.
- Report to AUSTRAC: a suspicious matter report within 3 business days of forming a suspicion, or 24 hours for terrorism financing (section 41); a threshold transaction report within 10 business days of a transaction involving A$10,000 or more in physical currency (section 43); and an international funds transfer instruction report within 10 business days of certain international transfers. The Act now calls these international value transfer service reports (section 46), with the old reports continuing until a transition date no earlier than 31 March 2029.
- Lodge an annual compliance report (section 47). The first period for Tranche 2 businesses runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, lodged between 1 July and 30 September 2027.
- Keep records (Part 10), generally for 7 years.
- Don't tip off (section 123): it is an offence to disclose information about a suspicious matter report where that would or could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation.
How the Act, the Rules and AUSTRAC guidance fit together
The Act sets the obligations. The detail is in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025, which section 229 lets the AUSTRAC CEO make. The Rules are a legislative instrument, so they are law too. AUSTRAC's Rules page says they "provide the detail for the broader obligations set out in the AML/CTF Act". The current Rules commenced on 31 March 2026. Our guide to the AUSTRAC AML/CTF Rules covers what is in them.
AUSTRAC's guidance, starter kits and quick reference guides are not law. AUSTRAC says its guidance sets out how it interprets the legislation, that the courts are ultimately responsible for interpreting it, and that the guidance isn't a substitute for legal advice. In practice you read all three together: the Act for what you must do, the Rules for how, and the guidance for what AUSTRAC expects to see.
Penalties under the Act
Most obligations are civil penalty provisions. Under section 175, a court can order up to 100,000 penalty units for a company and 20,000 penalty units for an individual for each contravention. At A$364 a unit, the rate from 1 July 2026, that is A$36.4 million and A$7.28 million. The unit value is the one in force when the contravention happened, and only the AUSTRAC CEO can apply for an order.
The Act also has criminal offences. Tipping off carries up to 2 years' imprisonment or 120 penalty units, or both. Giving false or misleading information or documents carries up to 10 years or 10,000 penalty units, and structuring transactions to avoid threshold reporting up to 5 years or 300 penalty units. For some obligations, including enrolment, AUSTRAC can issue an infringement notice instead of going to court; on 30 September 2026 it began doing so for businesses that hadn't enrolled, as covered in our guide to AUSTRAC's infringement notices.
The largest penalty under the Act so far is the A$1.3 billion ordered against Westpac in October 2020, which AUSTRAC called the highest civil penalty in Australian history. Others are in our guide to AML non-compliance penalties.
The 2024 Amendment Act
From the 2006 Act to Tranche 2
Australia’s AML/CTF Act 2006
- 12 December 2006
Royal Assent
The Act becomes law and starts in stages.
- December 2007 and 2008
Core obligations start
Customer due diligence from 12 December 2007, reporting from 12 December 2008.
- 10 December 2024
Amendment Act 2024
Extends the regime to Tranche 2 and simplifies it.
- 31 March 2025
New tipping off offence
The first part of the Amendment Act to start.
- 31 March 2026
New Rules and programs
Most changes for existing reporting entities start, and Tranche 2 enrolment opens.
- 1 July 2026
Tranche 2 regulated
Accountants, lawyers, conveyancers, real estate, trust and company service providers, and dealers in precious stones and metals.
Sources: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (ss 26E, 26F, 26K, 26M, 175); Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (No. 110, 2024); Department of Home Affairs, Overview of the AML/CTF Amendment Act Reviewed
The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (No. 110 of 2024) received Royal Assent on 10 December 2024. The Department of Home Affairs says it had three aims: to extend the regime to "tranche two entities", to modernise it for virtual assets and payments, and to simplify and clarify it. Among the changes:
- Tranche 2. Real estate professionals, dealers in precious metals and stones, lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, and trust and company service providers are regulated from 1 July 2026. They could enrol from 31 March 2026.
- Programs. Home Affairs says the old "check-box" program was replaced by a risk-based one.
- Customer due diligence became outcomes-based, with the matters to establish set out in section 28.
- Virtual assets. "Digital currency" became "virtual asset", as part of modernising the regime for virtual assets and payments.
- Tipping off. The offence was rewritten, and now turns on whether a disclosure would or could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation. That change started on 31 March 2025.
Most of the changes for existing reporting entities started on 31 March 2026. The Amendment Act also repealed the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988.
Key point
Australia's AML/CTF Act 2006 requires every business that provides a designated service to enrol with AUSTRAC, run an AML/CTF program, carry out customer due diligence, report to AUSTRAC and keep records. Since 1 July 2026 it covers accountants, lawyers, conveyancers and real estate agents.
What StackGo does here
StackGo doesn't interpret the Act for you, enrol you with AUSTRAC or write your AML/CTF program. Those stay with your business and your advisers. Where it helps is the customer due diligence and record keeping the Act requires for every client. StackGo's IdentityCheck verifies each person's identity, screens every party against politically exposed person (PEP), sanctions and adverse media sources, records your risk rating and decision on the client file, and re-screens monitored clients every month, from the practice software you already use. Our guide to choosing AML/CTF software sets out what any product can and can't do for you.
Frequently asked questions
What year was the AML/CTF Act introduced?
2006. It received Royal Assent on 12 December 2006, with its obligations starting in stages to December 2008. It was substantially amended in 2024.
What is section 6 of the AML/CTF Act?
Section 6 lists the designated services. If you provide one with a geographical link to Australia, you are a reporting entity. Its six tables cover financial services, bullion and precious goods, gambling, prescribed services, real estate and professional services.
Who regulates the AML/CTF Act?
AUSTRAC is the regulator and supervises reporting entities. The Department of Home Affairs administers the Act as legislation.
Is there a separate anti-money laundering act in Australia?
No. The AML/CTF Act covers both money laundering and terrorism financing. Sanctions are under separate laws, the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 and the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011; see Australia's sanctions list.
Sources
Checked on 2 November 2026.
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, sections 2, 3, 5, 6, 26B to 26J, 28, 30, 32, 41, 43, 46, 47, 51B, 123, 136, 142, 175, 184, 209 and 229, Part 10 (compilation 63, in force from 1 October 2026)
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (No. 110, 2024) (assented 10 December 2024)
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025 (compilation in force from 31 March 2026)
- Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 (from 1 July 2026)
- Department of Home Affairs: Overview of the AML/CTF Amendment Act (updated 12 October 2026)
- AUSTRAC: AML/CTF Rules (updated 2 November 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Summary of AML/CTF obligations for tranche 2 entities (updated 15 October 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Suspicious matter reports (updated 9 September 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Threshold transaction reports (updated 14 October 2026)
- AUSTRAC: International funds transfer reports (updated 12 October 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Annual compliance reports (updated 1 April 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Enforcement actions taken (updated 30 October 2026)
- AUSTRAC: Consequences of not complying (updated 15 October 2026)