Quarantine sour on high-risk import

Arriving in Brisbane turned sour for two travellers this week who thought they could get away with bringing a lemon tree through Quarantine . . . without declaring it.

AQIS officers discovered the tree – as well as other undeclared quarantine risk items – during X-ray inspection of the couple’s luggage.

The passengers, who were on a short-term visit to Australia on their way to the United Kingdom, were each issued a $220 on-the-spot fine. 

AQIS Airport Operations Manager Andrew Christie says the fines are a pointed reminder to the passengers that Australia takes quarantine very seriously.

“If the passengers had been planning bring the tree into Australia, AQIS would have considered a prosecution for this potentially serious breach of quarantine,” Andrew says.

“It was only the fact that they were intending to take the tree with them that saved them from court and a much harsher penalty.”

AQIS entomologists confirmed that there were live insects on the tree. 

The tree and its soil could also have been carrying a range of bacteria, fungi and viruses that cause diseases such as powdery mildew, citrus mosaic virus and citrus canker.

Australia’s citrus industry is worth more than $400 million a year to our economy, and the establishment of an exotic citrus disease could devastate production. 

For citrus planting material to be imported legally into Australia it must go through AQIS’s post-entry quarantine procedures and be tested for citrus canker and other diseases.

AQIS has confirmed that there has never been a positive result for citrus canker on any legally imported material.

“Quarantine officers regularly confiscate citrus fruit from arriving passengers, and there have many occasions when our plant pathologists have detected citrus canker on healthy-looking fruit,” Andrew said.

“This case should be a reminder to all passengers that they must declare their goods to quarantine — because they will be caught.”

Media inquiries: Jacinda Geritz DAFF Media +61 2 6272 3232