Have we seen the TV shows? Australian and New Zealand.
With so very much for us to endanger I am unimpressed with the fines, even if its a mistake.
Seems Customs stopped 110kgs of Thailand citrus leaves used in cooking,contaminated with Citrus blight.
We could introduce somethings that would forever take our clean and green tag away.
We could even by barred from some markets.
In a country suffering still from introductions by unknowing or the unwise, rabbits,cane toads, Lantana, Fox's, sparrows, Indian Minor birds.
Can we justify fines of $250 even less?
Maybe the average should be $1.000 or a prison term.
How many of us are confident a day will not come that brings us to our knees?

Border Patrol Protection for Animals and Plants
That joke is as old as the hills. Drive down Cape York after 5 pm on friday & there's no checking until monday 8 am.
Boats over 7 m which in general are kept clean & anchor off-shore need special clearance to go to Cape York from PNG. The small dinghies in the relay that carry all the deceases can go at will. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it ?

In reality some city livers would not understand how bad the danger is.
I have seen, time and again,in both Australian and Kiwi programs people let of.
Yet our whole food export industry can be lost.
We spray plans and yet almost for sure risk SOME thinking it is worth the threat.
As a gardener I am often forced to remove a plant and sit back and hope its disease will be contained before I need to remove them all.
Cattle, pigs sheep and much more is threatened even humans as illness we currently see little of is being re imported.

Whilst it is vital that we protect what keeps us going, we mustn't lose sight of a perfectly natural phenomenon called evolution. We can only try to control nature but eventually she'll do whatever she pleases, crops or no crops. We put a lot of effort into preventing plant deceases from getting a foot in the door whilst by far the greatest threat is from pussy-footing incompatible cultured people from within. Cultured as in business culture & every other sense. GM crops may be a great short-term solution at this stage. We're still in no position to confidently say that GM crops are totally without detrimental consequences to our ecology. Sooner or later some decease will sneak into the country & GM crops may or may not be able to hold up against it. If there is indeed a change in climatic conditions this also will impact differently to what we think we're prepared for. Nature co-operates with our interference to some extent & allows for it in evolution but does not bow to our every whim.

In watching those TV shows we can if we want see vegetation or fruit food wrapped in clothing and hidden.
Australia by its very nature has not had many plant and animal diseases, distance and time taken by sail boats kept them out.
To suddenly find we have foot and mouth?
And end forever, to some meat exports and for a very long time to most.
Some parts of our country always, will need those exports we can not mine what is not there.
Vegetable matter can do the same.
Citrus rust threatened the QLD industry, over seas bee illnesses are maybe already here but others can come.
We should never ever forget, terrorism too could just import an illness and let it destroy whole industry's.

Just a thought on keeping terrorism out of the country, perhaps we should control American foreign policy and take over their military bases in Australia.
Den71

DEN71 welcome and no thanks.
My thought was not terrorism.
But a very real threat to every one of us.
How many of these hidden, dangerous things get past Customs.
Why are some who clearly know better being let pass , why are others fined the pittance of $200
Humans want that food, garden plant from the old country, no matter what that plant and the country.
No consideration for what impacts this country may face.

On the other hand, many new species have been introduced successfully. It just goes to show that you can have many new plants when introduced with caution. However, we don't as yet know what the long-term consequences will be. Only time will tell.

Belly, it’s all about prevention and early intervention.

Prevention is virtually impossible. Sure, we should be making our efforts to stop nasties coming into the country. But this is always going to be compromised by the requirement for a streamlined process at airports, ease of travel across state borders and into agricultural areas, etc, etc.

We are never going to be able a keep all detrimental organism out.

So early detection is all-important.

When it comes to micro-organisms, ie; diseases of agricultural crops, I’d like to think that most growers would have a good handle on what to look out for and would report anything suspicious quickly.

But when it comes to macro-organisms it seems to be a different story.

For some years I have been concerned with Weedspotters.
http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/plants/herbarium/weed_spotters_queensland_network.html

This project is designed to get people to take an interest in unusual looking plants and to send specimens or photos for identification, so that weeds can be detected early and dealt with promptly.

It has however only met with limited success. As a botanist, I have taken a big interest in weeds. I am forever finding records of weeds that are hundreds of kilometres from the nearest known record.

It is clear that there are only very few people who are interested in Weedspotters. The early detection side of this whole business is sadly lacking.

continued

There are also problems with the scientific fraternity.

Six years ago I collected Begonia hirtella.

http://keys.trin.org.au/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Begonia_hirtella.htm

This was then the first feral record for the species, genus and family for Queensland, if not Australia. I sent a set of photos with the top-quality specimen of flowering and fruiting material which clearly showed that this plant was going feral along a roadside near Cape Tribulation. And the specimen and all the data was rejected, because one particular person felt that the population was not big enough to be recorded!

I was extremely unimpressed. So much for early detection.

There is also a real reluctance for councils to deal with weeds when they are first reported, as they are often deemed to not be of significance until they have been shown to be rampant and rapidly spreading, by which time they are very expensive to deal with and it is probably too late to stop them.

Ludwig very well put and I agree with you.
As you above all know we have had our failures.
Prickly pear took us to the edge but we won,we are yet to beat cane toads.
Foxes are forever now as are rabbits, some birds too ,bird flue if we get it will travel on unwanted but now naturalized birds.
I think if fines started at thousands not hundreds it would help.

Belly,
I think you are right, the fines need to be much tougher, but I guess the tourist industry would not be happy about their customers complaining about our stringent customs.

I am concerned about NZ apples being allowed in and Phillipines bananas. Other countries are wanting access to our markets for their produce. It is all a risk.

I am told very few shipping containers are inspected. Just a few years ago we had a few items of furniture (from my wifes mothers estate) imported from the UK. We were told it would be fumigated and so on but on arrival at our door none of the packing seemed to be tampered with, so obviously no inspection was carried out. You can bet lots of family heirlooms are imported by immigrants and who knows what they contain.

We have been lucky so far that some exotic diseases have not arrived. We can do without Foot and Mouth, Rabies and so on. But we can expect these types of things anytime. Plant, animal and human diseases.

I spoke with a customs officer earlier today about this topic & the boat people. His defence was "well, it's a big coastline & we're playing a cat & mouse Game but it's a great job. We get to fly around in helicopters all over the place & the pay is great. It's a great job". When I said but what about the boats that get past undetected, he just shrugged his shoulders & replied "I like this Job". I didn't detect any concern in his attitude.

Very true Banjo,sadly it has always been that way under all forms of government.
Smugglers have recruited customs agents and wharfs for century's.
Police state and federal sit in prison today.
While others own coastal pubs bought with the bribes.
But in the thought of fixing first what we can I am looking at customs searching individuals on arrival at airports of by ship.
Wrapped clearly to hide, very dangerous food stuff and plant material, guns and weapons are being found.
The fine is awful!
It is crime that not just threatens but will, one day bring part of our industry to its knees.
But worse how much gets past them.
My guess is we stop far less than gets through, if prison or a big fine was the result?
We would see far less surely.

Indi,
Yes, that would be the attitude of some customs officers. I have seen the same in councils noxious weeds officers and Ludwig gave a good example at a professional level.

Belly, you are right penalties need to be drasticly increased, It is not as though travelers are not informed. That is the actual front line and shows the world that we are serious about imports.

Makes one wonder what the various Ministers for Customs have been doing for decades. They are pretty lax when it comes to our economy and the livelyhood of many Australians.

Belly, I perceive a few problems with harsher penalties.

They have got to have a significant effect in reducing the risk of detrimental organisms reaching this country or getting into agricultural areas or natural environments where they could do great damage.

I can’t see that big penalties would help very much, as no one wants these things to become pests, except perhaps the very rare person with devious intent…. and anyone with that sort of intent would hide whatever it is that they are trying to spread and would presumably be able to do it easily.

Harsh penalties have got to only be applied to those with ill-intent or serious negligence.

We don’t want people who inadvertently do the wrong thing to be harshly whacked for it. For example, there are signs at some state borders and when entering some agricultural areas saying that you cannot take fruit beyond that point. But I have noticed that there are usually no warnings before you see the signs. So there is nothing to tell you that you shouldn’t have bought a whole lot of fruit at the supermarket the day before. Then you are very reluctant indeed to dump it all in a bin on the side of the road…. and the chances of you getting sought out are tiny!

continued

Penalties should be applicable to councils that don’t act on early-detection information or don’t put in a serious effort to eradicating significant weeds.


So if we are to have harsher penalties, they would need to be targeted at those who deliberately do seriously wrong stuff, and it would need to go hand in hand with a much-improved enforcement regime, so that people feel there is a high chance of being caught out, instead of a tiny chance.

General management would also need to be improved. We can’t have situations whereby you pass a little sign on the highway somewhere which says, ‘no banana material to be taken past this point’, with no prior warning, no or practically no enforcement and no idea whether that applies to only farmers transporting plants and crops or whether it also applies to Mr & Mrs grey nomad who may have bought a couple of narnies at a shop in the last town.... and might be hit with a huge fine if they get caught!

In other words; harsher penalties alone are not the answer.

No they are not Ludwig.
However they have to be a start.
Mum wanting a cutting from the old country could introduce just about any thing.
And as Banjo said,it is not as if they did not know.
Recently the introduction of a horse virus stopped racing and horse movements.
It turned out a vet had been at fault but cost millions.

Belly,
We buy most veges at weekend markets, but my wife tells me it is particularly hard to find Aussie grown Garlic at supermarkets.

As a small aside, is Garlic hard to grow or is it not profitable for growers? It seems to come from China.

I get angry at seeing all imported stuff when we grow it here. You cannot buy Aussie tinned ham now and Aussie tinned fruit is getting more difficult. I think Aussie tinned Tuna went ages ago. Now they are labeling stuff 'made from Aussie and imported'

We just do not buy imported fish or seafood.

Never had much luck in growing it Banjo.
Will not try here, black clay soil and too much winter water.
It needs to be dry ,last few years may have seen less try.
I haunt weekend farmers markets, this weekend is locally grown.
So will watch for it , use a lot in cooking ginger too but grow that myself.
A day will come, in my view, we will grow to a plan, some crops reserved for poorer country's ,who could grow enought to feed the world, garlic I mean.
Not a problem for me, just a step to a better life for some.
My fears are not about imports but imported disease.