AUSTRAC enrolments ahead of the new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 are alarmingly low with only 820 conveyancers and 2280 legal professionals enrolled across Australia.
Current enrolments, which opened at the end of March, show that many Queensland practitioners may not be prepared for the 1 July rollout.
To assist, the Queensland Law Society and compliance experts Holley Nethercote will host the Online AML/CTF Program Kickstarter Workshop on Friday, 5 June, from 9am-12.30pm, and registrations are now open.
The half-day workshop will help legal practitioners cut through some of the complexity of the new regime, leaving participants with an actionable plan to prepare for 1 July.
Topics covered in the 3.5-hour workshop will include:
- Governance: understand key roles and responsibilities;
- ML/TF Risk assessment: identify designated services, clients and delivery channels, and learn how to build and maintain a risk register;
- Personnel due diligence and staff training: grasp training requirements and how to map training plans for key roles;
- Customer (client) due diligence: identify simplified vs enhanced due diligence, privacy linkages, and options for a customer risk rating system;
- Reporting 101: a high-level overview of suspicious matter reporting and other ongoing obligations.
Workshop invitations are extended to legal practitioners and support staff who may be involved in implementing the new reforms. QLS would suggest that appointed AML/CTF Compliance officers should attend.
The workshop, worth 3.5 CPD points, will be livestreamed online. Registrations close on 4 June.
Also Amy Bell, the founder of AML Sorted in Australia, as well as Teal Compliance and Teal Legal in the United Kingdom, is also sharing her expertise with Queensland practitioners.
The author of Solicitors and Money Laundering, Ms Bell is a solicitor and compliance consultant with almost three decades of experience working with law firms.
She will hold an AML/CTF workshop on 22 June from 11.30am-3pm to help practitioners understand AUSTRAC requirements and setting up their firm’s procedures. Attendance at the half-day workshop is worth three CPD points.
There will also be six free webinar sessions with Ms Bell in June. Keep an eye on the QLS Events page for more details.
Over the six sessions, participants will learn about:
- Introduction to Money Laundering and how Solicitors are targeted
- What is the Risk Based Approach and how do you assess it?
- AML Program must-haves
- CDD – strategies for making it easy
- Reporting requirements
- Record Keeping Essentials.
This is an introductory course/session to help with understanding AML/CTF and help inform solicitors of their role.
QLS is also assisting practitioners and has recently published several resources and updated FAQs.
Director, QLS Ethics and Practice Centre, Grace van Baarle said: “If you have only recently turned your mind to AML and were unable to attend the QLS AML/CTF Roadshow, we would also suggest that you consider viewing the Anti-Money Laundering Roadshow 2026 – QLS recording as a starter.
“We suspect practitioners may have put off looking at AML because the legislation and compliance piece is quite overwhelming but if you are definitively within the regime (eg; conveyancing, commercial – equity/debt financing, corporate restructuring, shelf companies, creating a body corporate, providing a registered office), you must enrol, appoint your governance roles, have an AML/CTF program in place and conduct personnel due diligence and staff training before 1 July 2026.
“AUSTRAC have repeatedly noted that they do not expect perfection but they do expect reporting entities to be able to show that they have attempted to comply.
“For those legal practices who believe that they are not providing a designated service they should look at our FAQs that outlines what they should do.”
QLS has also published privacy compliance supporting materials for members. Reporting entities under the AML/CTF legislation will also, from 1 July 2026, be subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in respect of personal information collected, used or disclosed for AML/CTF purposes — regardless of its annual turnover.
New resources include:
• a template privacy policy
• a guide for clients regarding AML/CTF to support clients to understand information requests and collection requirements.
Members are encouraged to check the AML Privacy Compliance page over the coming weeks as additional information will be available soon.
AUSTRAC Industry Readiness survey closing Monday
AUSTRAC would like feedback from members on changes to the AML/CTF laws, and where additional information or support might be needed.
It’s optional, doesn’t ask for any personal information, and should only take about eight to 20 minutes. Members should complete the survey by COB this Monday 25 May.
Share this article