Perth Mint: State Government’s Gold Corporation confident it has met AUSTRAC demands to fix money laundering

State-owned Gold Corporation is confident it has done enough to meet the demands of financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC as it seeks to repair the damage from years of compliance problems. Gold Corporation — better known as Perth Mint — had an April 30 deadline to fix up a litany of failures identified through an enforceable undertaking signed with AUSTRAC late in 2023. That deal followed a years-long saga of remarkable revelations, memorably highlighted by footage of bikie Dayne Brajkovich buying $27,000 of gold in 2022. The $9 billion Government refiner and precious metal retailer, led by chair Sam Walsh, says it has made the mark. “The Perth Mint advised AUSTRAC that the remediation program scope was delivered on 24 April 2025,” a spokeswoman for the Mint said. AUSTRAC is expected to assess whether the Mint has met the obligations of the deal before it is given a clean bill of health, which could take weeks. Among the Mint’s issues were thousands of alleged breaches of money laundering rules, a gold doping scandal, and troubles with artisanal miners in Papua New Guinea. The doping scandal — when the purity of gold was allegedly diluted — was declared a “storm in a tea cup” by then premier Mark McGowan, who later walked back the comments. The Mint remained on the London Bullion Marketing Association’s approved list following a review. The troubles were aired in a Senate inquiry. That committee’s majority report said no sufficient explanation had been received from the board as to why risk management problems spiralled out of control at the Mint prior to a shock 2020 audit. “The more work the inquiry has done, the more has been revealed about the scale of regulatory failings and the continued unwillingness of major players to take responsibility for them,” committee chair and WA Liberal Senator Dean Smith said at the time.