Australian Government Response to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee’s report

On 13 November 2024, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee tabled its report into the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024 [Provisions]. It made 8 key recommendations, including that the Bill be: 

• amended to move the commencement of the ‘tipping off’ offence to 31 March 2025
• amended to include a note that reflects the policy intent for the anti‑money laundering and counter‑terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime to not capture barristers acting on the instructions of a solicitor
• amended to ensure entities providing custodial, depository or safe deposit box services without associated transaction elements are not unintentionally captured by the AML/CTF regime
• amended to ensure uniform exemptions for ‘item 54’ entities from governing body requirements
• amended to move the criteria for ordering institutions and beneficiary institutions to the AML/CTF Rules to increase flexibility and allow for further consultation with industry
• amended to ensure that where a civil penalty is being considered, there is a clear connection to the customer that should have been subject to customer due diligence, by amending section 28 and section 30 to read ‘the customer’ instead of ‘a customer’
• amended to ensure that where a reporting entity has previously provided delayed verification in a defective way, it can provide a designated service to a customer once any non‑compliance has been remedied, and 
• passed, subject to the above amendments.

On 30 January 2025, the Australian Government response was tabled in the Senate. The government response supports all 8 key recommendations, and the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 as passed by the Parliament addresses all 8 key recommendations.