The Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 (FTR Act) has been repealed with effect on 7 January 2025. The effect of this is that motor dealers are no longer required or expected to report significant cash transactions, nor suspicious transactions.

The rationale for this was in the 2016 Statutory Review which had recommended the FTR Act should be repealed and AML/CTF obligations should be consolidated under the AML/CTF Act to establish a single regime, as the operation of the FTR Act alongside the AML/CTF Act created overlap and confusion for government, industry and the public, without any demonstrable benefit.

Repeal of the FTR Act was proposed to also allow for more efficient use and application of AUSTRAC resources, enabling greater focus on a single AML/CTF system.

The FTR Act repeal has the effect of deregulating the remaining cash dealers that have obligations under the FTR Act, including motor vehicle dealers as these are said to provide low risk services that no longer reflect the current state of sectors prone to money laundering and terrorism financing.

New services will be regulated on and from late June 2026, it is not intended at this time that these will re-regulate the motor dealer industry.

So, from 7 January 2025, motor dealers should no longer report to AUSTRAC. To manage any privacy concerns, the systems and processes that were used to collect personal information for this purpose should be unwound and shut down as soon as practicable.

It should be noted however that the secrecy provisions that attached to information previously collected (particularly as to suspicious matters) remains in force.

This article was written by Maria Townsend, Partner.