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The Member for Bradfield has raised concerns about the billions of dollars in costs the bill will impose on accounting firms and other professions.
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Money laundering bill to ‘burden’ accountants with additional costs, warns Coalition
11 October 2024
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Federal Member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher has raised concerns about the $13.9 billion in new costs the expansion of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill is expected to impose on industries including accounting firms, real estate firms and smaller legal practices.
In a speech in Parliament this week, shadow minister for government services and the digital economy, Paul Fletcher, said the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024 would increase costs for small businesses all over Australia and for those providing professional services to these businesses.
The bill would expand the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill Act to lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, gemstone dealers and other designated non-financial businesses and professions.
"Almost 90,000 businesses across Australia will now be subject to this complex new regime. It is a massive step, and one that [the Coalition] takes very seriously," Fletcher said.
Fletcher noted that Treasury modelling suggests that the bill would result in $13.9 billion in new costs over 10 years.
"Who pays these costs? It's the accountants who do the tax for cafes and bookshops and for mums and dads who engage someone for help with their financial affairs. It's the real estate agents who manage sales and rentals. It's the country lawyers who run small practices in rural and regional areas around our country. These are the people who will pay," he said.
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"The odds are that these additional costs will be passed on to Australian families."
Fletcher said the bill would see businesses slugged with billions of dollars in new costs in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
The Treasury modelling suggested that providers of accounting services alone were estimated to be hit with $2.883 billion in additional costs.
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