Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

It feels a bit like the twilight zone in here this afternoon on the last day of parliament for the year. I'm hearing conservatives rally against laws that crack down on crime. I always thought that it was their mantra to be tough on crime. Here we finally have the Holy Grail for so many people before us today—what is commonly called the gatekeeper or tranche 2 laws to crack down on money laundering and terrorism financing in Australia.

I'd like to remind my colleagues across the chamber that it was actually Senator Brandis who had a red-hot go at bringing in these laws nearly 10 years ago. At the same time, in 2015, the Financial Action Task Force, the international world-standard-setting body for anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing, released a mutual evaluation report. It stated:

Australia is seen as an attractive destination for foreign proceeds, particularly corruption-related proceeds flowing into real estate, from the Asia-Pacific region.

Other international bodies have also highlighted the inadequacy of Australia's anti-money-laundering and CTF framework, including the OECD in 2017 and the IMF in 2019. The head of ASIC in the same time period said that Australia was a haven for white-collar crime.

These laws have been sitting there and waiting for this parliament to pass them. We're only one of six countries internationally that don't have these laws. Today is a really good day to ask why we haven't had these laws. I spent a good five years or more trying to get these laws, and I congratulate Senator Shoebridge for the great work that he's done on this bill today and on the inquiry into this bill, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024. On this point, I'd also like to acknowledge a previous leader of the Greens, Tasmanian Senator Christine Milne, who also campaigned on these laws; Senator O'Neill from the Labor Party, who's played an important role in getting this legislation before us today; and, of course, Senator McKim, who had the Treasury portfolio following me.

It's been a long road for the Greens to get these laws. We had a fantastic Senate inquiry in 2019 that reported in 2022. I'd recommend that senators read the report. It's called Greenfields, cash cows and the regulation of foreign investment in Australia. We had a fantastic case study of a Chinese crime syndicate who spent nearly $30 million of laundered money to buy real estate in Tasmania, including a resort and highly productive farmland. It was front-page news when this syndicate was busted. At the time there was a big spread, with Mr Peter Dutton saying, 'We're cracking down on the crooks. It's not fair that these foreign crime syndicates are competing with Australian mums and dads to buy real estate in Australia.'

We know money laundering is a significant issue in this country. We found out afterwards in the Senate inquiry that it wasn't to do with any of the work of the Federal Police or our agencies—AUSTRAC or anyone else. The Chinese government actually gave the Australian Federal Police the dossier with all the information on these crooks. They'd been tracking them and asked us to bust them. That's exactly how it happened. We looked at that. What are the inadequacies in our laws that we can't actually work out whether laundered money is going into Australian real estate? It's just one example. The evidence kept coming back to the gatekeepers. Either through the royal commission into banks and financial services and through other inquiries and reports, we know that the beneficial owners of the companies and the shady shell structures that were being used to channel this kind of money weren't being reported to AUSTRAC. Real estate agents, lawyers and accountants right around the country didn't have to report the beneficial ownership details to AUSTRAC.

The Greens wanted to see a beneficial ownership register. That's something we've campaigned on for nearly 10 years as well, to try and crack down on crime. Today's legislation has been a long time coming. As Senator Shoebridge said, it's not perfect. I certainly hope the Senate supports Senator Shoebridge's amendments to try and improve these.

Let's be really clear here. You can talk about $13.9 billion in regulatory costs, but real estate agents, accountants and lawyers have known this legislation has been coming for a long, long time. I can tell you from firsthand experience. I initiated the Senate inquiry that looked at money laundering. I was on the Four Corners report 'The secret riches of a parallel universe', talking about the impact of this on the Australian economy. These groups have campaigned and lobbied really hard—and I mean ferociously—to prevent this legislation from going ahead. There's $13.9 billion in regulatory costs. What about the opportunity costs and other costs associated with money laundering in this country, not to mention the financing of terrorism? Seriously, it hasn't even been mentioned once by the coalition. I never thought I'd see the day when they'd come in here and say, 'Listen to Senator Cash's contribution today,' which was so ferociously campaigning against laws to crack down on crime. Really? This is it. This is not perfect, but it's the best we've got.

I want to finish by also making a personal reflection about Fraser Brindley, who used to work in my office before he left to go and work in Senator McKim's and Adam Bandt's office. Fraser was always pushing me—and I know he pushed the other senators that he worked for—to take this issue seriously. It was because of Fraser that we had the Senate inquiry and that we got the Four Corners program up into this, amongst other things. I'd like to also acknowledge the book The Lucky Laundry, and Mr Lynch, who wrote that book. I contacted him afterwards and thanked him very much for all the quotes he'd put in there that I'd made in terms of this issue. I let him know that it was actually Fraser's work, and it really should have been Fraser in the book. That's when as a boss you feel a bit guilty that, although you're the one who's actually out doing the work, a lot of the hard work's being done behind the scenes by people like Fraser.

I hope the Senate supports these laws. They've been a long time coming. They're not perfect, but they're certainly a step in the right direction.