Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026
Ms MASCARENHAS (Swan) (10:00): I rise today in support of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026. This bill is about protecting the public. It gives Australia a simple, practical switch we can use when criminals find a weak point in our financial system.
When a particular channel is being exploited at scale to bank profits from illegal activity or to exploit Australians through scams, this bill lets AUSTRAC step in quickly and shut down the harm. As the Minister for Home Affairs said at the National Press Club in October last year, 'When we have a convergence of threats, we need to have a convergence of protection,' and this bill delivers exactly that.
Gone are the days when terrorism, foreign interference, organised crime, money laundering and espionage are separated. We have seen that these threats converge and overlap, from the Adass Israel Synagogue attack to the Dural caravan incident to the illicit tobacco trade. Money laundering runs through almost all of them.
This is about making sure that crime does not get a free run through the parts of the system that are vulnerable to abuse. Australians are being targeted by sophisticated scams and criminal networks. These operations move money through whatever channel is the hardest to trace.
One such channel is cash-to-crypto ATM machines. Crypto ATMs are a high-risk product, and there's no doubt about that. These are high risk products, and they're multiplying.
Six years ago, there were 23 of these machines in Australia, two years ago, there were 200; and today there are about 2,000. Australia is now ranked third in the world for the number of crypto ATMs. When crypto is bought online through a bank account, it at least leaves a traceable transaction.
When it is bought through cash through one of these machines, that trail disappears. This growth in crypto machines translates to a growth in exploitation. Every year, there are around 150,000 transactions, worth about $275 million, and 99 per cent of those transactions are deposits, as cash is turned into crypto.
This bill is about warning and protecting people. More and more of our everyday systems—banking, messages and shopping—are moving online, and that shift creates a space for people who do not fully understand these systems to be exploited. But it's not just about understanding.
Every Australian who knows the system well would say that they are careful, switched on and hard to fool, but, unfortunately, we still see that people are being scammed. Phishing or scam operations have become so realistic and so deceptive that old warning signs no longer apply. Scamwatch figures show that Australians have reported losses of more than $186 million to scams this year, and the age group that is hardest hit is Australians over the age of 65.
They make up around 17 per cent of our population, but they account for more than a quarter of all scam losses. It's interesting that in my community of Swan we have run multiple scam forums. We've done them with the former assistant treasurer Stephen Jones, who was particularly passionate about the area.
I've also done them with Cassie Rowe, the state member for Belmont, who's super passionate about making sure that our locals know what the scams look like but also can take steps to protect themselves. I also note that these reforms build on existing anti-money-laundering reforms that related to the purchase and sale of houses, and that regime came into effect on 1 July this year.
I remember, before I was about to get married, my future husband and I were looking for a home to purchase. We went to an open home and a man said to the real estate agent: 'How much for this house? I'll pay you in cash.
What is your best price?' It kind of freaked me out, but we are fixing this hole. Crypto ATMs, for these nefarious regimes that we're seeing, sit at the centre of the problem when it comes to money laundering. You see, when authorities look at the top users of these machines, they see that 85 per cent were scam victims or money mules who had been tricked or coerced into moving money.
Behind each of these numbers are real stories of people in our communities. When debating legislation, we often cite facts and figures, as I've done, but it's also important to not lose sight of the fact that, behind each of these statistics is a person, a family and a life that has been shattered. The minister's National Press Club address told of a 77-year-old widow who was groomed online and directed to feed cash into machines until $430,000 was gone.
I repeat this story today to honour the human reality behind these statistics and make it clear that our responsibility is to act so that fewer Australians ever face the same harm. The public needs more safeguards as these scams become more and more sophisticated at each iteration and more convincing each time. In Western Australia, a 72-year-old pensioner answered what looked like a Microsoft security alert on her computer and then a very convincing phone call.
She was told that her computer had been hijacked and was instructed to withdraw all of her savings and deposit the cash into a crypto ATM at her local supermarket. By the time she got home, she realised that $12,000 was gone. The police and AUSTRAC have also contacted more than 90 of the highest value crypto ATM users around the country and found that the majority were victims or people being used as mules, not offenders.
Investigators also identified another woman in her 70s who followed what looked like a legitimate trading promotion and lost more than $200,000 before authorities intervened. The pattern is clear. You see, when a bank blocks a suspicious transfer, scammers redirect the victim to a crypto ATM and tell them to use cash instead.
Many people only learn that they've been defrauded when the police arrive to warn them. The tactics are also evolving, with criminals even impersonating police to pressure people into moving cryptocurrencies 'for safety'. Know that the police will never say to you that you need to move your money into crypto.
It's beyond what they are responsible for and what they can do. The thing that I'd encourage people to do is always think critically but also recognise that people want your hard-earned savings. It's important that we put protections in place to protect ourselves, but as a government we're looking at the systems as well.
In a single year, there were 150 reports of scams involving crypto ATMs to 'Report' at cyber.gov.au, a national online portal for reporting cybercrime. These reports recorded approximately $3.1 million in losses, with the average loss per individual being above $20,000, but the Australian Federal Police believe actual losses are probably greater than reported, as a significant number of victims do not lodge reports due to embarrassment or uncertainty.
The bill gives the AUSTRAC CEO a fast and flexible power to put conditions on, limit or when necessary temporarily stop a high-risk mechanism that is causing significant harm to the financial system or the community when acting is in the interest of the public. It requires a public interest test and evidence of significant harm. It also includes consultation with the public and relevant agencies for a minimum of 30 days, except in urgent cases.
It must be exercised by a legislative instrument which is transparent, public and disallowable by the parliament. It is targeted, proportionate and reviewable. The bill also updates the definition of 'terrorism financing' so our laws keep pace with modern threats, and it tidies up some of the 2024 changes so that businesses can comply more easily and AUSTRAC can move more effectively—a focused power to cut off harm and a few pragmatic improvements so that the system works as intended.
Some will ask whether this is an attack on crypto or new technology, and I say it is not. This bill is technology neutral and risk based. If a channel is safe and legitimate, it continues.
If a channel becomes a magnet for scams and laundering, the community expects us to act, and that's what we will do. The bill ensures that we can act quickly and fairly, with checks and balances, when the evidence shows significant harm. Scammers and money launderers target people who are easy to pressure or confuse.
Newcomers to Australia may not recognise a fake call from a supposed bank or immigration official. Students looking for part-time income can be lured into easy money offers to hand over their bank details. Seniors can be pushed into making cash deposits on demand.
The damage is not only financial; it's also emotional, it's life altering and it erodes trust in our institutions. This bill closes channels that criminals use to exploit people. It helps stop money that fuels drug trafficking, child exploitation, fraud and other organised crime.
It protects savings, livelihoods and confidence in our systems. The key points are these. When a high-risk mechanism is being abused, this bill gives AUSTRAC a practical switch to limit or pause it, and it does so with clear thresholds, consultation, time limits and parliamentary oversight.
The bill brings our terrorism-financing laws up to date and smooths the 2024 reforms so that they can deliver on their purpose. This is also about giving AUSTRAC the power to restrict or prohibit high-risk products where the evidence requires it. Crypto ATMs are a high-risk product.
They're growing in number and they're linked to scams, money mules and large cash deposits that are much harder to trace. Scams and organised crime drain household savings, fuel mental health crises and undermine confidence. The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates that serious and organised crimes cost Australia up to $82 billion in the 2023-24 period.
That is money that is stripped out of our economy and out of the pockets of everyday Australians. The broader anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism-financing reforms are moving the system away from this box ticking and towards outcomes and real risk management. This bill is about protecting people and cutting the fuel line to serious and organised crime.
It backs our agencies with modern tools that are precise, proportionate and accountable. It makes it harder for criminals to move money and makes it easier for honest Australians to get on with their lives. I commend the bill to the House.