Overview of the changes

From 31 March 2026, law firms providing designated services are subject to AML/CTF regulation.

By 1 July 2026, regulated law firms must:

• have an AML/CTF program;
• have an AML/CTF compliance officer;
• train staff on their program, internal processes, and ML/TF risks; and
• be ready to comply with the Act's requirements and report suspicious matters.

Key aspects of compliance include client identification and record-keeping, which law firms already systematise as part of their existing procedures. Integrating those procedures into an AML/CTF plan means law firms can ease the burden of compliance.

For LEAP users, LEAP's partner InfoTrack is leading the development of a complete AML/CTF Compliance Centre designed specifically for the Australian regime. This solution will integrate seamlessly into LEAP, ensuring that compliance becomes a natural part of the firm's existing workflow.

Legislation

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) (the amending Act) expands the categories of reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the Act) to include:

• real estate professionals; 
• dealers in precious metals and precious stones; and 
• professional service providers, including lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, and trust and company service providers. 

These new participants are referred to as tranche 2 entities.

The main provisions of the amending Act commenced on 31 March 2026.

The new Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Rules 2025 (the Rules) also commenced on 31 March 2026.

AUSTRAC regulation

Tranche 2 entities must enrol as reporting entities with the regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) by 1 July 2026.

Enrolment is open now.

AUSTRAC has a dual role as Australia’s AML/CTF regulator and financial intelligence unit. Its mandate is to disrupt money laundering, terrorism financing, and other serious crimes.

AUSTRAC ensures regulated businesses comply with their obligations under the Act, including the obligation to have systems and controls that manage ML/TF risks.

Designated services

Only law firms providing designated services are regulated.

Designated services include:

• assisting clients to buy, sell, or transfer real estate;
• assisting clients to create, buy, sell, transfer, or restructure a legal arrangement;
• receiving, holding, controlling, or managing client funds or property;
• appointing a person, or acting as, a director or secretary of a company, power of attorney for a legal arrangement or body corporate, partner in a partnership, trustee of an express trust or any equivalent position;
• appointing a person, or acting as, a nominee shareholder of a legal arrangement or body corporate;
• providing a registered office address or principal place of business for a legal arrangement or body corporate;
• handling a person’s money, accounts, securities, virtual assets or other property to help a person plan or execute a transaction.

A legal arrangement includes an express trust, partnership, joint venture, unincorporated association, or other legal arrangement.

Law firms can determine if they are a tranche 2 entity by using AUSTRAC's online tool: Check if you’ll be regulated.

What regulated law firms need to do now

If regulated, firms need to prepare their AML/CTF program by:

• conducting a risk assessment;
• thinking about how to monitor transactions;
• preparing policies;
• subscribing to receive updates from AUSTRAC; and
• Enrolling as a reporting entity with AUSTRAC.

See AML/CTF Reform on the AUSTRAC website for more information, including toolkits specifically designed for small/medium firms. 

What regulated law firms need to do before 1 July 2026

AUSTRAC expects tranche 2 entities by 1 July 2026 to:

• be enrolled as a reporting entity;
• have an AML/CTF program either of their own design or using an AUSTRAC starter program;
• designate at least 1 senior manager to be responsible for approving their AML/CTF program;
• appoint an AML/CTF compliance officer, being an appropriate person in management;
• train their staff on the program and their internal policies and processes; and
• be ready to comply with their obligations under the Act.

What regulated law firms need to do after 1 July 2026

From 1 July 2026 regulated firms are required to:

• undertake an ML/TF risk assessment on their firm and keep it up to date;
• keep their AML/CTF policies and procedures up to date;
• conduct customer due diligence (CDD) on every client and for every new matter;
• comply with reporting requirements; and
• maintain appropriate records.

Customer due diligence

Initial customer due diligence requirements include:

• if the customer is an individual, taking reasonable steps to establish they are who they claim to be, including if they are a politically exposed person as defined in the Act;
• identifying the customer's ML/TF risk;
• collecting information about the customer appropriate to ML/TF risk; and
• verifying the customer information using independent and reliable data that is appropriate to ML/TF risk.

Ongoing CDD requires regulated firms to monitor their clients to appropriately identify, assess, manage, and mitigate the ML/TF risks they may reasonably face in providing services. This includes reviewing and updating client information, and monitoring for unusual transactions and behaviours that may trigger a requirement to lodge a report.

Simplified CDD is permissible in certain circumstances if the client's ML/TF risk is low and other requirements are met. 

Enhanced CDD must be applied in certain prescribed, high-risk circumstances. Regulated firms need to collect and verify additional information relevant to mitigating the identified higher risk and be reasonably satisfied that they know and understand their client's identity. See Enhanced customer due diligence (ECDD) program on the AUSTRAC website.

Policies

Regulated firms must have internal policies for AML/CTF that cover:

• how the firm will identify and report on the ML/CT risks it faces;
• designating an AML/CTF compliance officer;
• designating a senior manager responsible for approving any changes to the ML/TF risk assessment or AML/CTF policies;
• how the firm will undertake due diligence on staff whose role may allow them to facilitate serious financial crimes or whose role is relevant to AML/CTF compliance;
• how the firm will provide risk awareness and management training to staff;
• how, and when, to conduct an independent review of its AML/CTF program; and
• any other matters provided for in the Rules.

Reporting

Regulated firms are required to report certain transactions and suspicious activities to AUSTRAC. Reports that may be required include:

• Suspicious matter reports, if the firms suspects on reasonable grounds that a person is not who they claim to be, or that a matter is linked to criminal activity or the proceeds of crime. See Suspicious matter reports on the AUSTRAC website for more information.
• Threshold transaction reports for individual physical currency transactions of $10,000 or more.
• International value transfer service reports for certain international transfers.
• Cross-border movement reports if carrying physical currency or bearer negotiable instruments valued at A$10,000 or higher into or out of Australia.
• Annual compliance reports.

Privileged information

Section 242 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 already provides that it does not affect the law relating to legal professional privilege.

The amending Act provides stronger protections for the disclosure of information or documents that are subject to legal professional privilege, reflecting the fact that lawyers are now included in the regime.

See Schedule 4 and Clear protections for legal professional privilege on the AUSTRAC website.

Offence

The amending Act creates a new offence of 'tipping off', intended to prevent a reporting entity from disclosing information to their client, such as the fact that they have made a suspicious matter report, if it could reasonably prejudice an investigation.

See Schedule 5 of the amending Act and Tipping off on the AUSTRAC website.

Enforcement

After 1 July 2026, AUSTRAC will conduct enforcement operations against tranche 2 entities that:

• wilfully ignore the obligation to enrol; or
• are complicit with, or wilfully blind to, money laundering activities.

Guidance

See the following pages on the AUSTRAC website:

• Legal profession guidance | AUSTRAC
• Summary of AML/CTF obligations for tranche 2 entities.
• Education about reforms – a series of webinars.
• Future Law Compilation of the AML/CTF Act.

Publication updates

By Lawyers publications will be amended as required to account for these changes. Specific amendments will include First steps in all commentaries, the Conveyancing guides in each jurisdiction, and the Practice Management guide.

The Trusts Act 2025 (QLD) commenced on 28 April 2026 and replaces the Trusts Act 1973 (QLD). The new Act streamlines and modernises trust law in Queensland.

Notably, the new Act:

1. For estates matters, amends the notice period for a notice of intention to distribute from 6 weeks to 2 months: see s 135;
2. Inserts new sections 49B to 49D into the Succession Act 1981 (QLD) that allow the personal representative to carry on the deceased’s business for 2 years after death: see Division 8 of Part 18.
3. Broadens the powers of trustees to deal with property as if they were the absolute owner: see s 82;
4. Codifies the trustee’s duties rather than relying on common law: see Part 5;
5. Allows a claimant to enforce a remedy for wrongful distribution of trust property against the recipient of that trust property: see Division 3 of Part 9; and
6. Gives the District Court jurisdiction to hear matters under the Trusts Act 2025 (QLD) where the monetary value of all trust property does not exceed the Court’s jurisdictional monetary limit: see Division 4 of Part 18.

The following By Lawyers guides have been updated to help practitioners navigate these changes:

1. Trusts;
2. Probate;
3. Letters of Administration;
4. Wills;
5. Family Provision Claims; and
6. District Court Litigation.

Victoria’s retirement village sector is undergoing significant reform with the commencement of the Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025 (Vic) and the Retirement Villages Regulations 2026 on 1 May 2026.

These reforms introduce a new, more prescriptive regulatory framework to improve transparency, simplify contracts, and strengthen consumer protections. 

Key changes

Standard form contracts

A key reform is the introduction of new standard form contracts for retirement village residents. These aim to:

• simplify and standardise retirement village contracts;
• improve comparability between villages; and
• address longstanding concerns about complex and inconsistent contracts.

The new standard form contracts will be mandatory from 1 September 2026. In the interim, operators can continue to use existing contract forms, provided they comply with the new legislative requirements. 

New Information Statement and enhanced disclosure obligations

A new Information Statement replaces existing disclosure documents and must disclose:

• village details, services, and amenities;
• optional services;
• the available right-to-occupy options;
• entry fees, ongoing costs, and exit fees;
• exit entitlements;
• insurance details. 

The operator’s disclosure obligations have also been strengthened. Operators must:

• publish the Information Statement on their website;
• provide it to prospective residents on request; 
• provide it to recipients of targeted promotional material;
• provide it to prospective residents before entering into a management contract. 

Penalties apply for a failure to comply with these obligations.  

Stronger consumer protections

The reforms introduce enhanced protections for residents to support more informed decision-making and improve outcomes when entering, living in, and leaving retirement villages. These include:

• greater transparency;
• a longer cooling-off period;
• a settling-in period;
• greater clarity around responsibility for capital maintenance and exit entitlements;
• fair sharing of capital gains;
• a mandatory condition report;
• improved dispute resolution processes.

Reporting and compliance

Operators will also be subject to new obligations, including:

• annual reporting and notification requirements;
• enhanced regulatory oversight by Consumer Affairs Victoria;
• new dispute resolution and compliance processes.

The Victorian Government is also developing a Retirement Village Code of Practice, which will be released for consultation later in 2026 and is intended to further support improved standards across the sector.

Publication updates 

The By Lawyers Retirement Villages (VIC) guide has been substantially amended and enhanced to provide a comprehensive, practical resource that enables legal practitioners to act confidently for retirement village clients.

This includes:  

• a detailed overview and explanation of the available retirement village contract types and mandatory documents;
• a summary of mandatory and prohibited terms, with hyperlinks to the relevant prescribed contract forms;
• guidance on duties, tax and rate considerations;
• answers to common legal issues arising during residency in a retirement village;
• an outline of the process for ending a residency and the associated financial consequences; and
• a summary of the various dispute resolution mechanisms for retirement village disputes.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has introduced a new Regulatory and Civil Penalties List within the Commercial Court, supported by Practice Note SC CC 10, effective from 1 May 2026.

The new list streamlines the management of regulatory proceedings and civil penalty matters. The Practice Note introduces tailored procedures and focused case management for these matters.

New list

The new judge-managed list deals with proceedings relating to commercial activities, business transactions, and community undertakings involving federal or state regulators.

Concise statements

Proceedings may be commenced using a concise statement, enabling parties to identify the key factual and legal issues, and the relief sought, in a clear, narrative form. If a concise statement is used, no further originating material is required unless the court orders otherwise.

Expedited case management

The list adopts procedures aimed at the just, efficient, timely, and cost-effective conduct of proceedings, with an emphasis on early identification of issues and streamlined preparation for trial.

Publication updates

By Lawyers Supreme Court Civil (VIC) publication has been updated to ensure practitioners have access to accurate, practical resources when acting for clients in regulatory and civil penalty matters.