Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024 delivers on the Albanese government's commitment to protecting Australians from the serious harm caused by criminals. The bill will bolster Australia's anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime to prevent criminals from hiding their illicit profits and funding illegal activities. It will also stop funds from falling into the hands of terrorists and disrupt activities of authoritarian and corrupt regimes. The reforms in this bill are long overdue. The former government's inaction has led to significant regulatory gaps and vulnerabilities. We are acting now to make sure that Australia stops being an attractive destination for illicit financing.

The bill will extend AML/CTF regulation to high-risk services provided by real state agents, professional service providers such as lawyers and accountants, and dealers in precious metals and stones. It will also expand the regulation of virtual asset related services and modernise financial sector specific regulation. These amendments bring Australia's framework in line with the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, which is the global financial watchdog, and will prevent Australia from being greylisted. This bill will help ensure Australia is not deemed a high-risk jurisdiction, which would have significant economic impacts for businesses and all Australians.

The bill also contains measures to modernise, clarify and simplify AML/CTF obligations to ensure the regime is easier to understand and easier to comply with. This includes making the AML/CTF programs and customer due diligence requirements more flexible, risk based and outcomes focused. The bill also repeals the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 to reduce complexity and duplication, and responds to a range of other issues raised by stakeholders while maintaining the overall integrity of the regime. Lastly, the bill makes timely updates to AUSTRAC's regulatory and information gathering powers, subject to appropriate safeguards. This will ensure that AUSTRAC can continue to effectively monitor, investigate and enforce compliance with the AML/CTF regime.

I have to say that we've had some very curious contributions from Liberal members who have spoken on this bill. They have all equivocated on their support for this legislation. I heard the member for Lyne say just now that the government should hasten slowly on this legislation. How slowly do you want to go? The Liberals have also all claimed credit for the passage in 2006 of the act of parliament which this bill amends, which was the Howard government's implementation of anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing measures. At that time in 2006, and I say this in the context of the member for Lyne's absurd suggestion that we should hasten slowly, there were two sets of regulation which the minister chose to categorise as tranche 1 and tranche 2 reforms. By 2015, the then government had not implemented the tranche 2 reforms, which were said to be coming in 2006, and at the time of the last mutual evaluation by FATF, the Financial Action Task Force, the then Liberal government in 2015 said it would implement the tranche 2 reforms.

Nine years later, after seven more years of inaction from the Liberal government, we had nothing, and I am now bringing to the parliament the tranche 2 reforms that the Howard government said they were going to do, that the Abbott government said they were going to do, that the Turnbull government said they were going to do and that the Morrison government said they were going to do. I say to the Liberal members who have spoken on this bill and I say to the opposition: time's up. Decide whether you are going to stand with criminals or not, but the time's up. Don't say 'hasten slowly' in respect of a reform that you said you were going to do in 2006 and again told the Financial Action Task Force that you were going to do when you were in government in 2015.

We are a government that gets things done, and we are getting this done because we are not about to have Australia grey listed, with dire financial consequences, and we're not about to have a continuing regime in which it's possible for black money from all over the world to compete with Australians who are bidding for houses. I'd make the other point that, as to the concern for businesses that are going to have to respond—which I hasten to say is not every business in Australia; it's businesses that have got interactions and have got potentially suspicious transactions—this gives them some reporting requirements. We got more than $160 million in the budget for a campaign that AUSTRAC is going to manage. AUSTRAC is very experienced at working with business. It's been working well with the businesses that are already regulated, which particularly include the banks, which have much more onerous reporting requirements than what any of the businesses that are being brought in in tranche 2 will have. We have more than $160 million in the current year's budget for an education campaign to ensure that businesses who will henceforth, when this legislation passes, be subject to the regime will know what the requirements are.

I say again to the opposition: time's up. You need to decide whether you're going to continue to stand with criminals by opposing this legislation—

Yes, I'll say 'continue to stand with criminals', which the member for Lyne is a bit upset about. He should go and read the op-ed in the West Australian from the shadow Attorney-General last week, in which she announced that the Liberal Party is going to oppose this legislation. That is not an acceptable position. We cannot have Australia grey listed by FATF at the next mutual evaluation, which is going to take place over the next year. That would have dire economic consequences for Australia.

At the moment we're in a select group of five countries, which include Haiti and Madagascar, in not having tranche 2 entities regulated. Time's up. You cannot put a price on the need to fight against terrorism and child abuse, as Liberal members would seek to do. We have to do everything we can to protect Australia from the dangers of money laundering, and we are. These reforms will benefit all Australians by strengthening our businesses and economy against money laundering and against terrorism financing. They'll ensure our law enforcement agencies are better able to detect and disrupt criminals and ultimately protect Australians from serious and organised crime. We are taking up the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in Australia, and it's about time.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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