For Pacific Island businesses looking to export to Australia, the rules and regulations can be daunting, with instances of containers being stopped at Australia’s border proving to be frustrating and expensive for Pacific exporters.
All goods imported into Australia must be cleared through its borders. Tonga’s Senior Trade Development Officer, Ministry of Commerce, Consumer, Trade, Innovation & Labour, Amanaki Tu’itupou has been in Australia as part of Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) Australia’s Talent Development Program.
As part of the program Mr Tu’itupou, met with Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources and took part in the biosecurity inspection process in Sydney, seeing firsthand how food items and products are cleared.
Biosecurity plays a critical role in ensuring Australia remains free of the most severe pests and diseases that could adversely affect Australia’s agricultural and tourism industries.
With more than 60,000 km of coastline offering a variety of pathways for exotic pests and diseases, the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources screens, inspects and clears the millions of people, mail parcels, baggage, ships, animals, plants and cargo containers entering Australia every year using X-ray machines, surveillance, as well as detector dogs.
The amount of goods crossing the border into Australia is immense, in 2016–17, over 277.9 billion dollars’ worth of goods were imported into Australia. Mr Tu’itupou said the experience of seeing a biosecurity inspection deepened his understanding of Australia’s import standards, quarantine systems and biosecurity requirements, and the sheer volume of goods that must be screened each day.
“Going down to see the inspection site was really eye-opening. The scale of it is huge; with so many goods coming into Australia each year, the volume that the centres deal with is immense. Australia takes its biosecurity very seriously; it’s very necessary to prevent diseases such as Citrus Greening from entering the country.”
The inspection team also took Mr Tu’itupou to an approved inspection site to be a part of the biosecurity inspection process, where he witnessed the clearance of a number food items and products with potential pests.
“It’s important for Pacific Island exporters to have an understanding of the biosecurity measures and the inspection process involved at the border, and the reasons behind Australia’s strict import standards. They aren’t trying to make the process difficult; it’s about ensuring that unwanted diseases and pests don’t enter the country." Mr Tu’itupou said. "When you are miles away and get the call that your container has been stopped at the boarder it can be easy to feel like you’ve been targeted."
However, it’s not only Pacific Island exporters that are stopped in the border. In 2013, imports of an album by Katy Perry (pop star) were stopped to protect Australia’s biosecurity.
Perry’s album included a paper impregnated with seeds, so listeners could grow their own plants. That’s exactly the kind of risk that is investigated in efforts to keep pests out of Australia.
“At the clearance site I saw they were checking everything no matter how famous the exporter or the country of origin. Pacific Island exporters need to be vigilant about not cutting corners in their quality controls. To ensure their goods are accepted at the Australian border, it’s essential to ensure that all required documents are present as well. With so many goods being processed at Australian borders each day something as simple as a missing form can hold up goods at the border, so it’s best to triple-check everything is in place and to work with a reputable customs broker.”
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Published April 2018
