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To help keep Australia free from serious pests and diseases, strict quarantine laws are in place at all Australian international airports and mail centres. Don't worry if you see AQIS detector dogs sniffing your bags at the baggage collection area. These dogs are looking for quarantine items such as food, or plant or animal products.
Before your aircraft arrives in Australia you will be given an Incoming Passenger Card to fill in. This is a legal document and you must tick YES if you are carrying any food, wooden material, plant material or animal products. If you are unsure about items you are carrying, declare them anyway, by ticking yes.
In many cases items will be returned to you after inspection. However, any item that has a pest or disease risk will be withheld. Depending on the quarantine risk, some items can be treated to make them safe (you will have to pay a fee) while other quarantine risk items may need to be destroyed or returned to your home country (again, you will have to pay for this).
All luggage is screened using a combination of detector dogs, x-ray machines and physical inspection of bags upon arrival in Australia. If you fail to declare any quarantine items or make a false declaration:
- you could be fined up to A$220 on the spot
- you could be prosecuted and fined up to A$66,000 and/or risk 10 years imprisonment
Once you're here
Australian Quarantine screens ALL international mail sent to Australia . Quarantine will remove high risk quarantine items from parcels. Therefore it is important to let your family and friends know what items cannot be sent to you in Australia. Anything they send by mail must be declared on the postal declaration label. Many of your favourite foods are available in Australia's major cities. These foods have to pass strict quarantine conditions before they are allowed into Australia.
To find out more information on what you can and cannot bring into Australia please visit: www.aqis.gov.au
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