The Turnbull government is working on plans to extend the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws to capture lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers, real estate agents and jewellers. The government is preparing to release proposals to the public for consultation before the end of the year, according to officials in Canberra. The controversial law reforms have been repeatedly shelved since mid-2007 amid opposition from some of the affected industry sectors, most notably the legal profession. The inaction on tranche two has outlived the Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Rudd and Abbott federal governments, despite receiving political support from both major parties.The Attorney-General's Department is working on a number of options for regulating so-called designated non-financial businesses and professions under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.A spokeswoman for Michael Keenan, the minister for justice, said the government would consult extensively with stakeholders before finalising any legislative reforms.The confirmation that work has begun on tranche two follows concerns expressed last week that DNFBPs are facilitating tax evasion and money laundering on a scale that placed them in the category of organised crime. The Serious Financial Crimes Taskforce, led by the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Federal Police, is also investigating organised tax evasion and money laundering in Australia.The Turnbull government has also committed to undertaking a cost-benefit analysis on any proposals after the consultation phase has been completed.In April the AGD's report on the statutory review of the AML/CTF regime identified the "tranche two" laws as a top priority area for action. At present casinos and bullion dealers are the only categories of DNFBPs that are captured under the AML/CTF Act in Australia.The Financial Action Task Force's most recent evaluation of the effectiveness of Australia's AML regime strongly criticised the inaction over tranche two. The FATF said in April 2015 that the reforms should be addressed as a matter of urgency. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre has also supported the proposals to extend the AML regime to cover DNFBPs.AML experts in Australia have welcomed the government's commitment to a consultation on tranche two. They said the reforms were long overdue and should address concerns that the existing AML laws had displaced money laundering and terrorist financing into other parts of the economy.Paddy Oliver, a lawyer and financial crime consultant, said the extension of the AML/CTF laws to include DNFBPs was essential to ensure that the overall regime was effective. He said successive governments had failed to take action for almost a decade, so the commitment to a consultation this year was a positive development.Oliver also said it would help lawyers, accountants and other affected businesses to prepare if there was a broad timetable in place for implementation."A set date will provide clarity to all the industries to be covered. It is not as if they have not been aware of the impending legislative change for the past ten to 15 years," he said.New Zealand has expedited the second phase of its AML regime in response to the