Sources and citations
Sources and citations
Last checked 25 September 2026 against the AML/CTF Act compilation C2026C00274, the AML/CTF Rules 2025 (F2025L01026) and the Transitional Rules 2026 (F2026L00393)
The instruments and government pages our documents and guides rely on, with the version we opened and the date we opened it. If you want to check a claim we make, start here.
01 How to read this page
Law, guidance and estimates
Act s 51B the law, read in the authorised textAUSTRAC guidance the regulator's published guidance
- Law is the authorised text of an Act or legislative instrument on the Federal Register of Legislation. We cite it by section or rule number, and mark it with a solid label.
- Guidance is a page or document published by AUSTRAC, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) or the Attorney-General's Department. It explains how a regulator or department reads the law, or what the government proposes to change. It is not the law, and we mark it with a dashed label.
- Estimates are government cost estimates, such as the figures in the Impact Analysis. We say "about" and name the table.
We link to each instrument by its base ID with /latest/text, which opens the current compilation. The version column shows the compilation we read and its compilation date.
02 Table 1
The law we cite
| Short name | Instrument | Version opened | Link | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Act | Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 | Compilation No. 62 (C2026C00274), compilation date 1 July 2026 | C2006A00169 | 25 September 2026 |
| Rules | Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025 | F2025L01026, Compilation No. 1, compilation date 31 March 2026 | F2025L01026 | 25 September 2026 |
| Transitional Rules | AML/CTF Transitional Rules 2026 | F2026L00393, Compilation No. 1, compilation date 14 May 2026 | F2026L00393 | 25 September 2026 |
| Amendment Act | Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (No. 110, 2024) | C2024A00110, as made | C2024A00110 | 25 September 2026 |
| Penalty unit | Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 | F2026N00424, as made; commenced 1 July 2026 | F2026N00424 | 25 September 2026 |
| Crimes Act | Crimes Act 1914, section 4AA (penalty unit) | C1914A00012, point-in-time version of 27 August 2026 | C1914A00012 | 25 September 2026 |
The Amendment Act matters for tranche 2 because its Schedule 3 set the start date for real estate and professional services Amendment Act Sch 3 item 11 and the enrolment date for firms already providing those services Sch 3 item 12. The penalty-unit instrument sets the unit used to work out the maximum penalties quoted in our guides.
03 Table 2
AUSTRAC pages we rely on
All AUSTRAC pages below were opened on 25 September 2026. They are guidance, not law. Links open in a new window. AUSTRAC has not reviewed or endorsed our use of them.
| Topic | AUSTRAC page | What we use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Starter kits | Program starter kits | The five kits AUSTRAC publishes, and that they are free |
| Starter kits | Accountant program starter kit, getting started and document library | The base of our accountants edition, and AUSTRAC's suitability criteria |
| Starter kits | Real estate program starter kit, getting started and document library | The base of our real estate agency edition, for agents and buyer's agents |
| Starter kits | Conveyancer program starter kit, getting started and document library | The base of our conveyancer edition |
| Starter kits | Legal profession program starter kit, getting started and document library | The base of our legal practice edition |
| Starter kits | Updates to the accountant, real estate, conveyancer and legal profession starter kits | Release 1.1 of 10 June 2026 for each kit, and what it changed |
| Program steps | Your AML/CTF program and program overview | How AUSTRAC describes the program |
| Program steps | Steps 1 governance, 2 risks, 3 policies, 4 review and 5 independent evaluation | The order of work in our documents |
| Roles and training | AML/CTF compliance officer, sole traders and micro businesses, personnel due diligence and training | Governance for small firms, staff checks and training |
| Customer due diligence | Overview, initial CDD, ongoing CDD, enhanced CDD, politically exposed persons and transitioning existing customers | How AUSTRAC expects clients to be identified and checked |
| Reporting | Reporting to us, suspicious matter reports, threshold transaction reports, annual compliance reports and tipping off | Report types, how to lodge, and the compliance-report period |
| Records | Record keeping overview | Which records to keep, and for how long |
| Enrolment | Enrol with us and Enrol with us overview | How to enrol, and AUSTRAC's enrolment counts as at 17 September 2026 |
| Scope | Check if you may be regulated, designated services for newly regulated entities, professional and real estate designated services, and the geographical link requirement | Which services are captured, with AUSTRAC's examples |
| Transitional rules | AML/CTF transitional rules 2026 | AUSTRAC's explanation of the transitional dates |
| Regulator approach | Changes to AML/CTF obligations: What you need to do (published 1 July 2026) and our regulatory expectations | AUSTRAC's stated approach to the transition |
| Enforcement | AUSTRAC issues notices to non-enrolled businesses (published 28 August 2026) and consequences of not complying | Section 167 notices to firms that have not enrolled |
| Copyright | Copyright, attribution and third-party guidelines | The licence under which we adapt AUSTRAC material |
03 Government estimate
Cost estimates
- Office of Impact Analysis, Impact Analysis (Attorney-General's Department, September 2024), Table 19: average upfront and ongoing cost of the reforms per tranche two business, by turnover band. We quote it as an estimate, with the department's own note that these businesses "would not be 'starting from scratch'". oia.pmc.gov.au. Opened 25 September 2026. Impact Analysis, Table 19
04 Table 3
Privacy Act sources
Our Privacy Act guides are free general information. They rely on the instruments and pages below, all opened on 25 September 2026.
| Source | Kind | Version or page | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy Act 1988 | Law | Compilation No. 104 (C2026C00227) | C2004A03712 |
| Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (No. 128, 2024) | Law | C2024A00128, as made | C2024A00128 |
| Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 | Law | Compilation No. 4 (C2024C00118) | C2014A00093 |
| OAIC | Guidance | The Privacy Act | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Privacy guidance for reporting entities under the AML/CTF Act (updated 28 August 2026) | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Small business | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Notifiable data breaches and about the scheme | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Australian Privacy Principles guidelines, chapter 1 (APP 1) | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Children's Online Privacy Code | oaic.gov.au |
| OAIC | Guidance | Consultation on guidance for transparency in automated decision making | oaic.gov.au |
| Attorney-General's Department | Guidance | Privacy reform: consultation on exposure draft legislation (an exposure draft is not law) | consultations.ag.gov.au |
| Attorney-General's Department | Guidance | Review of the Privacy Act 1988 | ag.gov.au |
05 Attribution
Attribution statement
AUSTRAC material is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Every document we adapt from it carries this line: "© AUSTRAC for the Commonwealth of Australia 2026, CC BY 4.0; adapted by AMLCompliant; not endorsed by AUSTRAC". The licence does not cover the AUSTRAC logo and Commonwealth Coat of Arms, or material provided by third parties. We use neither the logo nor the arms. We do not resell AUSTRAC's own files: each edition of our kit links to AUSTRAC's free document library for that sector. How we use AUSTRAC's material.
Legislation is Commonwealth material published on the Federal Register of Legislation. We quote it and link to the authorised text; we do not reproduce whole instruments.
06 Straight answers
Questions about our sources
- Why do your links use a base ID and not the compilation ID?
On legislation.gov.au, a base ID followed by /latest/text opens the current compilation of that instrument. A compilation ID on its own may not load. We record the compilation we actually read in the table, so you can see which version our citations were checked against.
- How often is this page updated?
Whenever a cited instrument is recompiled or AUSTRAC releases a new version of a starter kit. The edition stamp on each of our documents records the date its citations were checked, so you can tell whether your copy predates a change.
- Are AUSTRAC's web pages law?
No. They are guidance from the regulator. They are useful evidence of how AUSTRAC reads the law, but the Act and the Rules are the law. Where a page or document relies on AUSTRAC's wording, it says so and marks it with a dashed guidance label.
Back to the guides, the Privacy Act guides, or how we check.