In exactly one month, solicitors across Australia will assume obligations under the Tranche 2 reforms to the AML/CTF regime. While the Commonwealth Parliament passed the legislation enacting these reforms in November 2024, the history of these reforms goes back almost four decades.

The Group of Seven, at its 1989 meeting in Paris, founded the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “in order to prevent the utilization of the banking system and financial institutions for the purpose of money laundering…”.

The G7’s Paris Communique placed the announcement of the FATF under the heading ‘Drug Issues’. Concerns about money laundering, and indeed the work of the FATF, have since evolved well beyond the illicit drug trade.

In 2019, on the 30th anniversary of the FATF announcement, Finance Ministers from 37 member countries, including Australia, gave the agency an ‘open ended mandate’ to tackle not only money laundering, but also to counter funding of both terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Australia’s modern AML/CTF regime effectively began in 2006, with Tranche 1 reforms introduced, ultimately affecting financial institutions, gold bullion dealers, the gambling industry, and remittance services.

The Tranche 2 reforms have had a long gestation, and, as we have said, the Law Society of NSW, both individually, and as a constituent member of the Law Council of Australia, has advocated strongly with the Commonwealth Government and AUSTRAC during the drafting of the Tranche 2 legislative reforms, Rules, and Guidance, to try and ensure the reforms achieved their objective, without creating an unnecessary regulatory burden.

That advocacy will continue during this transition, as we continue to support legal practitioners, including by the provision of resources to assist them to meet their regulatory obligations. This is my first President’s Priority this year.

In this edition of Monday Briefs, you’ll see that we have published an information sheet to assist you to explain the AML/CTF changes to your clients, and a privacy policy template to help practices that will be subject to obligations arising under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for the first time, as a result of the AML/CTF reforms.

Later this month, we will also launch a new, on-demand, educational resource to assist practices comply with their AML/CTF obligations.

These new resources follow up on the well-received the AML/CTF Implementation Guide: for sole practitioners and small practices, that we delivered last month. Later this month, we will publish an Implementation Guide tailored to assist medium to large practices.

All these resources are be accessible via our AML/CTF Hub, which now hosts a series of videos featuring AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas, interviewed by our Head of Regulatory Policy & Strategy, Bobbie Wan.

While the path to this point has been long, the Law Society is committed to supporting the profession into the future, as the AML/CTF regime continues to evolve. If you need further support, contact the dedicated AML/CTF team within the Professional Support Unit by email or phone (02) 9926 0249.

Ronan MacSweeney, President, The Law Society of NSW