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An international student and a first-time traveller have both learned an expensive lesson: — trying to break
Australia’s tough quarantine rules doesn’t pay. The two cases, heard in
Brisbane, resulted in fines totalling more than $14,000 for Quarantine and Customs breaches at
Brisbane International Airport. The travellers also now have criminal records. In the first case, a university student who has been studying in
Australia for three years tried to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of sausages from
China after a trip home to visit his family. Quarantine officers discovered the sausages in his suitcase during X-ray inspection. Sausages could carry animal diseases such as foot and mouth into
Australia — and could potentially devastate Australian native animals and its agriculture and export industries.
It’s been estimated that an outbreak of foot and mouth disease would cost $450 million in control measures, and would cause a $13 billion loss to Australia’s export earnings.
The second passenger, a 52-year-old woman visiting relatives in Australia, brought in a range of goods, also from China. Quarantine officers found the items including a live bamboo plant, apples and chicken meat, when her bags went through X-ray inspection. The goods could have brought with them insect pests, a range of plant diseases and bird flu, putting at risk Australia’s $30 billion-a-year agriculture export industries as well as its wildlife and environment.
For information on this article, or on any other aspect of the Australian economy or business opportunities available, please email me.
David
david.taylor@agarcarlyon.com
An international student and a first-time traveller have both learned an expensive lesson: — trying to break 
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