“Chicken meat poses a significant biosecurity risk to Australia, particularly the risk of highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza (HPNAI) virus which can cause severe disease and mortality across Australia’s poultry industry, and may also affect wild bird populations.”
We do have a reputation for taking these things very seriously, as we should. We were even going to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs at one point but settled for the “hostage video”. Despite that, it does seem excessive in this case and should have been overturned on appeal at the very least.
Thankfully someone stepped up and ended up paying the fine on their behalf.
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Great, then declare it and there shouldn’t be any problem. Where the problem comes in is people not declaring it. If it’s hidden somewhere in their luggage or on their person how is anyone supposed to know that?
Granted it is harsh in this case which I already said but customs has no interest in letting people skirt the rules just because.
Who in their right mind would think they need to declare a sandwich?
The people who see the massive signs all the way through the arrival hall with pictures of stuff like sandwiches. Seriously, you can’t miss them
And you are told in a dozen languages even before stepping out of the plane. But everyone in this thread who’s never crossed a border think you can just go to other countries and do the fuck you want because they know better
Don’t forget to declare your half-eaten bag of airplane peanuts as well.
You can either declare them or put them in the bio security bins in arrivals.
Perhaps anyone listening to the plane announcements, looks at any one of the multitude of signs on arrival, or anyone (everyone) who fills out the incoming passenger card? It’s not at all unclear what you have to do when you’re there. They make it clear to declare everything at multiple points. There is no penalty for declaring something even if it’s not allowed in.
On the first side of the incoming passenger card, half of it is taken up by the question:
Are you bringing into Australia:
[…]
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Meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy, fruit, vegetables?
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Grains, seeds, bulbs, straw, nuts, plants, parts of plants, traditional medicines or herbs, wooden articles?
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Animals, parts of animals, animal products including equipment, pet food, eggs, biologicals, specimens, birds, fish, insects, shells, bee products?
The tourists are all made of raw meat!
And the same applies! You have to be declared. If you try and smuggle a human in there’s probably steep fines associated if you’re caught.
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Don’t forget to declare any stuff that might get trapped on your shoes. Iirc people have been jailed for having “marijuana traces” on them.
EDIT: not sure why people are voting down but this actually happened: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18842015
Real talk, how did they find it if she didn’t ‘declare’ it?
They found it after they went through her backpack.
Extra info: if you declare everything, even if it’s something that’s definitely not allowed, you will not get into any trouble. I’m talking about food and stuff not drugs or guns. They just don’t want people to not be declaring things that then slip through without inspection. That’s why there’s a heavy fine if they have to “catch” you. A lot of things are okay’d to be brought in after inspection.
Everyone is searched going through customs. There are also dogs trained to sniff out everything.
I hope the dog got to eat the sandwich.
We were even going to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs at one point but settled for the “hostage video”.
Let me guess, it’s because he was rich and famous.
I think it was more about sending a message. In a way yes because he is famous, but in the way that they wanted to leverage that as a deterrence. It wasn’t about “letting him off the hook”. It was about using him as a platform to say to the world “we do not fuck around when it comes to this”. If you’ve seen the hostage video you know what I mean 🤣
I have not seen this hostage video.
Is it easy to find?
Here’s a short news story about it with some additional context https://youtu.be/4a7ExWd698w
Here’s the original clip https://youtu.be/Q2BDtdkyxFk
If you search Johnny Depp hostage video you will find it. We don’t talk about she who must not be named.
Thank you!
I can see how this might be a win-win for both parties. Yeah, JDepp gets off cause of his fame. But the AU government also gets to use that fame to send a message to everyone else.
They were never really going to kill the dogs. The full context was along the lines of “well you can do the right thing, or we will have no choice but to…”. I’m not aware of any cases where they’ve actually euthanised a pet, famous or no. It’s an absolute last resort as they would rather just quarantine them. But yeah, pretty funny and a win for the government.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/4a7ExWd698w
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
In Australia under a rightwing government? No, they wouldn’t have given a shit about that.
It was because he broke biosecurity laws. Something we take seriously here after witnessing how rabbits, foxes, and canetoads fucked up the environment.
We were even going to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs at one point but settled for the “hostage video”.
That was just Barnaby Joyce grandstanding and making a big deal out of ‘we apply the rules to everyone, no matter if they’re rich or famous’. No fucking way he would have ever laid hands on those dogs. The man was and still is a fucking embarrassment to politics and Australia.
Agreed and I made a similar point in a few of my other comments. If you look at the original context it was more of a “well you have to abide by the rules and the dogs should be quarantined but if you’re not willing to do that then we would have no other option”.
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And what I got from other commenters is that their countries hate pieces of gum and shrivelled blackened oranges. It’s not unique to Australia although as an island nation especially prone to biosecurity threats we do have a reputation for taking it more seriously. It’s not a difficult thing to get caught with if you’re paying any sort of attention. You can make mistakes and accidentally (or even purposefully) bring stuff in as long as you own up to it. There’s signage everywhere explaining in words and pictures what is and is not allowed. The custom agents ask you. There’s literally every chance to declare.
It’s not as harsh as it sounds, it’s only when you get caught that it becomes a big deal. It’s like if you got pulled up by the cops. If you try and lie or simply don’t even recognise that you were speeding you’ll probably get a ticket. The analogy breaks down in the “admit fault” side of things because the cop can ticket you anyway, where under our biosecurity law you cannot be punished for declaring goods that would not be allowed in.
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The very next sentence says:
The analogy breaks down in the “admit fault” side of things because the cop can ticket you anyway
Do you have a passport? You shouldn’t visit Europe either - similar restrictions
Yep no meat no dairy. Which also applies to the UK, yet another Brexit dividend.
The chance that any random sandwich carries something nasty is small, but there’s two other factors: a) If it does carry something nasty, the implications are huge and, certainly not least, b) you don’t need to bring a sandwich. Noone needs to bring a sandwich. Get one once you arrive. And if you just can’t stand airline food then be vegan for a couple of hours it won’t kill you. Live solely off chocolate during your flight if you want.
That’s dumb. I understand restrictions on uncooked meats, but what harm could a cooked chicken breast do? This is what happens when officials blindly enforce rules without understanding the purpose of the rule in the first place.
It’s a genuine biosecurity risk in Australia. Australia (and NZ) are very susceptible to pathogens from outside so this kind of thing is taken very seriously in both countries.
It’s a genuine biosecurity risk in Australia.
A cooked chicken sandwich? And letting in people who’ve eaten the sandwiches isn’t a biosecurity risk? Hmm. I’m questioning the genuineness of the concern.
You probably shouldn’t let any people in then.
“Nope, don’t worry about that. It’s the chicken sandwiches that are the problem.”
You should be thankful it’s cooked.
If it’s undercooked? Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Brah so we should test all chicken breast coming into the country to make sure it’s cooked? Who the fuck is paying for that? Or maybe you just don’t bring a fucking chicken burger on the plane…
If you can’t tell the difference between raw chicken breast and a piece of fried chicken on sight, please don’t ever work anywhere near the food industry.
Granny shoulda watched that show, “border security: Australia”
To make it worse, we have our own in New Zealand, which is the (worldwide) original of that format. The Aussie series is a spin-off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Patrol_(New_Zealand_TV_series)
Funny thing is, NZ is actually stricter on this issue than Australia.
The link didn’t load for me, but this link has an interesting bit at the end-
“Meat has strict import conditions which can change quickly based on disease outbreaks,” the spokesperson said, adding that passengers can be fined up to 6,260 Australian dollars, or around $4,100, for bringing unauthorized food items into the country.
It’s not the first time a passenger has been fined for bringing an undeclared item through an Australian airport. In August, a passenger was fined $1,200 for walking with a rose at an airport in Australia. And in August last year, a passenger was fined $1,870 for packing McMuffin sandwiches on a flight from Bali to Australia.
@FlyingSquid @throws_lemy Who the hell declares a sandwich???
At the US Canada border crossing, if you don’t declare a pack of gum or a candy bar for a inspection it can be used as an “issue”
I was warned of this a few years ago as they asked me if I wanted to declare anything before they started their random vehicle inspection.
One time I was driving my Gf’s car and at some point a orange had rolled under her seat and had turned into a dried out black ball.
They let me off with a stiff warning that I was lucky since I didn’t declare and they could tell it was an accident. They have to be concerned about the orange crops (in Florida I guess?) I was told. I was crossing in Washington State though.
@WashedOver that’s insane
That same info was also in the linked article.
Like I said, the link didn’t load for me.
Could it have something to do with it being Chinese state media? I’m not aware of any ad blocker that is that overzealous but it might be a possibility?
I was merely letting you know. There’s no need to downvote factual information.
I didn’t downvote anything.
“Don’t risk it for a Bisquit”
Bisquick has ruined your spelling.
Got me, apologies on this, but it was nesquick
Same thing happened to me with a Tim Hortons bagel. Border guards with small dicks having a power trip. The best part? The question on the computer was “are you importing any xyz…”. I was not importing it, I was eating it at the airport. Still had my Nexus taken.
“Flightless” for a reason, grandma.
