Australia is committed to ensuring the country and its financial system are resilient in preventing the financing and support of terrorism nationally and overseas. Australia combats terrorism financing through a well-established, robust counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regime, which forms an important part of the country’s national approach to countering terrorism and violent extremism in all forms.

The Terrorism financing in Australia: national risk assessment 2024 is an important contribution to Australia’s CTF regime. It brings together insights from across Australia’s national intelligence community, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, private sector stakeholders and international financial intelligence units (FIUs) to assess risk associated with the methods and channels used to finance and support terrorism activity. It also examines the international and domestic drivers that influence the Australian environment, and considers how Australia mitigates and combats terrorism financing activity and where improvements could be made.

Key findings

• Australia is primarily an exporter of small-scale terrorism financing funds flows to offshore terrorist organisations and affiliated groups. Organisations assessed as most likely to receive funds or support from Australians include Islamic State, al-Qa’ida and both their respective affiliates; and Hamas and Hizballah to a lesser extent, although the Hamas-Israel conflict may change this trajectory.
• Terrorists and their financiers largely continue to use the same established methods for raising funds. The use of personal funds and contributions from individual supporters, often under the guise of charitable giving, provide a viable revenue stream for both domestic and offshore funding.
• Terrorism financing can be difficult to detect. Transactions conducted through regulated financial channels often mirror legitimate financial activity and do not raise suspicion. The increased speed of financial products in recent years has also made it harder for reporting entities to identify and freeze suspicious transfers before funds leave an account.
• Financial intelligence efforts continue to evolve from a largely reactive role in monitoring suspected violent extremists and supporting investigations, towards a proactive role in countering violent extremism.