Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I do withdraw my comments. If I have misinterpreted the comments that Senator Xenophon made in relation to the organisation's influence on the government, I apologise.

The government believes that the current regulatory framework provides adequate controls and mitigations for the risks of money laundering. Lowering the threshold to $1,000 would pose an unnecessary burden on gaming venues, especially those which are small businesses. This government is absolutely committed to reducing red tape in Australia by $1 billion each year and not increasing it. This commitment was realised in the first parliamentary repeal day in March this year and through other measures such as the National Gambling Regulator. The National Gaming Regulator and its associated measures duplicated the roles of state and territory regulators and foisted a huge, unnecessary and expensive red-tape burden on hospitality venues. While the government will not be supporting this bill, the government does take money laundering very seriously. That is why Minister Keenan has announced changes, as I have previously stated, to the customer due diligence obligations. We believe that these changes will apply to electronic gaming venues and will increase transparency and customer identification processes.

Ongoing customer due diligence by gaming venues and the reporting of threshold transactions and suspicious matters where required are crucial measures that assist law enforcement agencies to detect and investigate possible money laundering and other criminal activities connected to gaming venues. AUSTRAC, with law enforcement and business, are continually assessing money laundering threats in Australia to improve joint efforts to prevent, deter and prosecute money laundering.