In this issue:
- Payday Super: regulations
- Genetic testing & financial adviser registration: Senate Committee report on Bill
- AML/CTF & privacy obligations: updated guidance
Payday Super: regulations
The Government has registered regulations to support the Payday Super reforms, which are due to commence on 1 July.
The Payday Super reforms were legislated last year via the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (with supporting amendments in the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act 2025) – see ASFA Action issue 1020 for background.
The reforms will effectively require employers to pay superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions for their employees at the same time as their wages.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Regulations 2026 make a range of amendments to the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 2018 and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 to support the reforms. These include amendments to:
- update rules about allocation of employer contributions, for funds other than SMSFs, to require trustees to allocate or refund a contribution within three business days of its receipt. (Currently, a trustee must seek corrective information within five business days and return the contribution if they cannot allocate it within 20 business days.) These amendments are intended to support compliance and align allocation requirements with the new timeframes for an employer to make an eligible contribution to avoid or reduce their liability to the SG charge
- modify how the ATO determines the SG charge (penalty) that may apply where an employer fails to meet their obligations
- replace existing rules prescribing exclusions from ‘salary and wages’ for SG purposes, to reframe and update the terminology for consistency with the updated framework as ‘earnings, remuneration or payments’ that are excluded for the purpose of determining qualifying earnings when calculating employers’ SG obligations
- modify the ‘benefit certificate’ rules, including to ensure they apply to defined benefit members of defined benefit schemes, rather than to the whole scheme
- update terminology to be consistent with the new concepts used in the reforms – for example, updating references from ‘ordinary times earnings’ or ‘OTE’ to ‘qualifying earnings’.
The Government has also indicated it will introduce technical amendments to ensure an individual’s concessional contributions cap is not exceeded in 2026-27 “from their SG contributions as a result of the transition from the quarterly SG system to the new Payday Super system”.
Genetic testing & financial adviser registration: Senate Committee report on Bill
In ASFA Action issue 1023 we reported the introduction into Parliament of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025.
This Bill:
- amends the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to prohibit insurers from using certain information about an individual’s genetic testing to inform the offer of life insurance cover, or the terms and conditions of the cover that is offered. Contravention of the ban will be subject to a criminal offence and civil penalty provision, with ASIC assigned regulatory responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the ban. The Bill also amends the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to align it with the ban.
- removes a requirement that individual financial advisers register themselves with ASIC annually from 1 July 2026. Individual registration was intended to be Stage 2 of the registration process for financial advisers established by the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response—Better Advice) Act 2021. Australian Financial Services licensees were already required to register their financial advisers with ASIC under Stage 1 of the reforms.
The Bill was referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which has now tabled a report unanimously recommending that the Bill be passed.
AML/CTF & privacy obligations: updated guidance
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released updated guidance for entities on meeting their obligations under privacy and anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism (AML/CTF) laws.
The guidance provides clear direction to businesses about what personal information they may collect, how they must protect it, and when it must be deleted, supporting stronger integrity and transparency across the AML/CTF regulatory framework.
The updated guidance is designed to support an expanded range of businesses that will soon fall under the Privacy Act 1988 as part of recent AML/CTF reforms – these ‘tranche 2 entities’ are real estate professionals, dealers in precious metals and stones, and professional service providers such as lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, and trust and company service providers.
Changes for current reporting entities (‘tranche 1’ entities) will also take effect from 31 March 2026, which may affect the types and volume of personal information that is handled for AML/CTF purposes, depending on the customer risk.
The updated guidance clarifies that reporting entities must only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to comply with AML/CTF obligations and perform their broader organisational functions. From 31 March 2026, and from 1 July 2026 for tranche 2 entities, businesses should not retain copies of full ID documents for AML/CTF record-keeping purposes. The AML/CTF regime does not require copies full ID documents to be kept, and entities obligations under the Privacy Act require them to minimise the data they’re retaining.
Entities must also have clear and accessible privacy policies and collection notices explaining how personal information is handled – unless issuing a notice would breach statutory tipping‑off restrictions.
Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind emphasises that the guidance clarifies that “previous allowances to keep full ID documents apply only to documents collected before the AML/CTF reforms. That practice should cease from 31 March 2026, unless another law requires it.”
The OAIC encourages all reporting entities and their authorised agents to review the updated guidance along with the Australian Privacy Principles Guidelines and AUSTRAC’s guidance on AML/CTF reforms. The OAIC has also developed a Privacy Essentials Checklist for AML/CTF reporting entities to prepare for key privacy obligations.