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Rescue and recovery crews have worked through the night on a remote Northern Territory island following a military plane crash that killed three US marines.

Investigators are determining what caused the US military Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft carrying 23 marines to crash on Melville Island, 80 kilometres north of Darwin, on Sunday morning.

"There were a total of 23 personnel on board," Marine Rotation Force Darwin said in a statement on Sunday.

"Three have been confirmed deceased while five others were transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition."

The hospital declared a Code Brown - the country's highest level of alert - in response, with NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles committing all resources to transport the injured marines to hospital.

The crash site was secured by defence force personnel and NT Police while the military training exercise the troops were involved in has been put on hold.

Chief Commissioner Michael Murphy said workers at an emergency operation centre set up to tackle fires in the territory had been redeployed to the crash site, with the national critical care and trauma response team triaging patients before they were transported.

He said the remote nature of the incident made the rescue operation challenging, with both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft involved.

The Department of Defence said the incident occurred during Exercise Predator's Run 2023 and no Australian Defence Force members were involved.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Karratha, said the ADF was working with its United States partners to offer any assistance needed.

"Our focus as a government and defence department is on incident response and support at this difficult time," he said.

"Obviously this is a regrettable incident."

Defence Minister Richard Marles told ABC TV on Monday he had been in contact with US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy to express Australia's condolences.

"Obviously, we've been reminded, ourselves, of the risks involved in defence exercises and the costs that defence personnel pay. And we are very much standing with the United States in this moment."

Mr Marles said the loss of US lives would be very much felt amongst ADF personnel who worked side by side with the US marines during the dry season in the NT.

He said questions over the safety of the Osprey aircraft were a matter for the US Defence Force but Australia would rely on US certification and safety processes when operating with US forces when Ospreys were deployed.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the accident was a reminder of Australia's bonds with the US, "forged through sacrifice, in peace and war".

"We have an ongoing mission in preparing for the strategic challenges ahead, including navigating the tough geography of the Indo-Pacific region," he said in a statement.

"We will continue to train hard together as we defend our sovereignty, values and common interests."

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also issued a statement on the dead and injured marines.

"These marines served our country with courage and pride and my thoughts and prayers are with their families today and with the other troops who were injured in the crash and with the entire US military community family," he said.

The US embassy on Monday issued a statement thanking members of the rescue operation.

"Australians and Americans have been the closest of friends for over 100 years and we're thankful for their continued friendship and support at this time," it said.

RSL Australia President Greg Melick said the three deaths and injuries were "a tragic illustration of the everyday risks faced by service personnel".

"This is a catastrophic event, and we express our sympathy to the friends, families, and colleagues of all those impacted." he said in a statement.

About 150 US Marines are stationed in Darwin and taking part in military drills alongside personnel from Australia, the Philippines, East Timor and Indonesia.

© AAP 2023

Australia's real estate industry is the go-to sector for money laundering and more professionals should be compelled to report dodgy transactions, an anti-corruption group says.

Transparency International Australia says a flow of dirty money into the country could be pushing house prices up even higher but the real estate industry disputes the claim.

The federal government is consulting on a push to include accountants, lawyers and real estate agents in legislation that forces certain professions to report suspicious transactions to authorities.

The anti-corruption group backs the push as existing laws are focused on other areas including casinos and the financial sector.

Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said Australia's existing anti-money laundering rules were among the weakest in the world.

"Australia's real estate sector is now the go-to-destination for criminals to park their illicit money," Mr Moore said.

"Several high-profile cases, media reports and AFP busts have demonstrated how kleptocrats, crooks and corrupt officials from countries including China, Cambodia and PNG use Australia's property market to launder their dirty money and hide their crimes."

The comments come ahead of a National Integrity Summit in Melbourne this week that will explore integrity, corruption and governance issues.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves hit back, saying the main factor behind home and rental prices was a severe shortage of housing supply.

"The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Government currently can't demonstrate any evidenced-based link between money laundering and Australian property values, or the scale on which money launderers are operating, despite many requests from our industry to understand this better," Mr Groves said.

He said the industry group was committed to playing its role in the fight against capturing money launderers and was working with the government on the appropriate reporting of suspicious individuals.

© AAP 2023

Fee-free TAFE enrolments have topped 214,000, soaring past the initial 180,000 target six months earlier than anticipated.

The care sector is the biggest winner, with more than 51,000 students, or about a quarter of all enrolments.

Construction attracted almost 21,000 enrolments, technology and digital scored almost 17,000 and early childhood education and care almost 12,000.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the numbers "a terrific achievement".

"One of our major commitments from the jobs and skills summit was delivering free TAFE places to train, retrain and upskill Australian workers," he said.

"Fee-free training offers a huge cost of living relief for students, grows the recruitment pool for businesses and eases the skills shortages that hold our economy back."

Women made up the majority of enrolments with more than 60 per cent and more than a third are in regional areas.

The enrolments include 15,269 people with a disability and 6845 Indigenous Australians.

The federal government has committed $414 million for a further 300,000 fee-free TAFE and vocational educational courses from January 2024, with next year's tranche of places to be announced in coming weeks.

Skills Minister Brendan O'Connor said the government would work with states and territories to address shortages as they work through the five-year National Skills Agreement.

The shortages affect almost a third of jobs on the 2022 skills priority list.

"Fee-free TAFE is the spark that is igniting a renewed sense of optimism and potential in our vocational education and training sector and I'm looking forward to building on our success," Mr O'Connor said.

© AAP 2023