Recently, an Australian woman returning from overseas received an unpleasant surprise when she passed through customs in Western Australia. The elegant handbag she was carrying was challenged by an inspector on the grounds that it was made of alligator skin and that is an illegal import under the legislation to control Wild Fauna and Flora under CITIES legislation. As a consequence, the bag was seized.
The woman bought the bag at a fashionable boutique in Paris and it seems that it carried the required CITIES export permit that allowed it to pass outward through French customs, but the owner had not cleared it for import to Australia by seeking a CITIES import permit for this country. Such a permit can be claimed after landing in Australia but this carries a $70 processing fee.
That alligator skin bag was valued by customs at $26,000 but apparently the owner was unaware of the protocol to clear it through customs and neglected to pay that seventy dollar fee - and the bag was subsequently destroyed.
It is unfortunate that high fashion in both America and Europe often features the skin of animals under threat of extinction because of the high value their skin brings in the world of fashion. There is a ongoing battle between rangers tasked with protecting endangered species and the marauding gangs that draw their profits from supplying the fashion trade.
Australian travellers would be wise to know and understand exactly what is allowed - and what is not allowed - to travel through customs here unchallenged. Not all countries are signatories to CITIEs legislation and the goods on sale in shops offer no guarantee that they will pass through customs unchallenged.
The hiatus on overseas travel caused by the coronavirus may have stopped a number of infectious agricultural diseases gaining a foothold in Australia. The growing tendency to holiday off the beaten track was taking Australians into close proximity to farming markets and those returning with uncleaned shoes risked bringing unwelcome contamination back with them. We were being vigilant to contain a pig disease that has spread widely across Asia and has in many cases has resulted in almost complete herd reduction.
The flow of travellers through airports has long been the high risk factor for the introduction here of both plants and animals that may threaten our national diversity. We are in the habit of returning with souvenirs of our trip abroad and if these take the form of seeds of any form of living matter it can set in motion change that can be catastrophic to the economy. The customs regimen we have in place is designed top stop that happening.
The wise would be well advised to know the rules - and avoid incidents like that twenty six thousand dollar handbag being destroyed in a furnace because a seventy dollar fee went unpaid.
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