Big year for biosecurity

Once again, it has been a busy year on the frontline for Australia’s biosecurity system, with over 238,000 biosecurity risk items intercepted at airports and an additional 32,800 biosecurity risk items stopped in mail centres.

Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and Australia’s Director of Biosecurity, Andrew Metcalfe AO, said it was important to check what is safe to bring into Australia when going on holidays overseas or buying goods online.

“If there’s one thing we’ve seen this year, it’s that Australians care about biosecurity and want to do the right thing to keep our country safe,” Mr Metcalfe said.

“Our frontline biosecurity officers and our biosecurity detector dogs go above and beyond to protect Australia’s agricultural industries, our food supply chain, and our unique way of life. I want to sincerely thank our officers who work day and night to keep this country safe.”

Deputy Secretary of Biosecurity and Compliance, Dr Chris Locke, said serious penalties applied to those putting Australian biosecurity at risk.

“There have been six visa cancellations on biosecurity grounds across our international airports and 861 international travellers were issued with high penalty infringement notices of $2,664 for not declaring high biosecurity risk items,” Dr Locke said.

“People who attempt to conceal high risk goods, including within their luggage, could face civil penalties of up to 1,200 penalty units, or $266,400. If hit with an infringement notice, they may have to pay up to $4,440.

“Operators and persons in charge of aircrafts and vessels who do not comply with the requirements will be subject to sanctions of up to $222,000 for an individual or $1.1 million for corporate bodies.”

This year, the Department celebrated 30 years of its detector dog program, and in the 2022-23 budget the Australian Government committed $11.7 million dollars to the program.

“This extra funding will allow for 20 detector dogs and 20 handlers, who will be on the frontline of our biosecurity system across travellers, mail and cargo,” Dr Locke said.

“And it’s a worthy investment. This year our detector dog teams intercepted around 21,000 biosecurity risk items from travellers and in the mail.”

Penalty units will increase from 1 January 2023, which will see an increase to all infringement notices issued.