10 August 2006  
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and CPA Australia has congratulated the Attorney General’s Department on its engagement with industry and the revised draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2006.  
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants and CPA Australia welcome of the Government’s recognition of the issues raised in its April submission on the first draft of the Bill.  
 
CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Graham Meyer said; “this revised draft provides a clear indication of the government’s intention to fulfill its promise to remove unintended obligation, which initially produced complex, overly burdensome regulation that would have imposed unnecessary compliance burdens on businesses - particularly small business.  
 
“We are particularly supportive of the approach taken in the Bill to develop a more risk-based approach to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regulations in line with industry discussions held prior to the Bill’s exposure,” Mr Meyer said.  
 
While supporting the government's approach, CPA Australia Chief Executive Geoff Rankin warns however that there are still a number of issues to be resolved before the second tranche of the bill targeting accountants and other professionals is introduced.  
 
"In particular, we are concerned that the government does not use the bill as 'catch all' legislation and attempt to make accountants policing agents for the ATO. I hope the government continues its consultative approach and recognises that small professional firms face very different issues to those of the large financial services businesses.  
 
A full copy of the letter and additional technical recommendations made to the Attorney General’s office is available upon request.