Plant quarantine restrictions apply throughout Australia. A national border protection network operates at airports, sea and rail terminals and road entry points. Plant Health Inspectors, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) Officers and detector dogs may be encountered at arrival and departure points.

See the Australian Quarantine Domestic Travellers Guide for a list of fruit and vegetables that can be carried across state borders.

Green Snails

Biosecurity SA has warned South Australians and travellers to beware of the risk of green snails entering the state. The declared exotic plant pest was recently detected for the first time in Victoria, at Cobram in a lucerne crop. The infestation is near a direct interstate route with the potential for the snail to be carried in hay bales, nursery stock or harvested leafy vegetables. Primary Industries in Victoria has established a 25 kilometre radius exclusion zone around the Cobram site infestation.

Any travellers entering South Australia from Victoria or New South Wales, if they are carrying vegetables with them, must hand it in at the border quarantine stations, or appropriate quarantine bins.

This external link takes you to the DPIV fact sheet on green snails:
Green Snail: DPI Victoria (external link)

Read Biosecurity SA’s media statement on green snails

Information for people visiting Australia

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is Australia’s first line of defence, protecting our environment against exotic pests and diseases.  Quarantine officers screen all flights, passengers, baggage, mail and cargo using x-ray machines, detector dogs, physical inspection, questioning and profiling.  This helps to protect Australia’s agricultural industries and unique environment from quarantine risks.  If you’re coming to Australia to holiday, study or live permanently, or if you’re an Australian resident planning an overseas trip it’s a good idea to learn what can’t be mailed or brought into Australia.

You must declare for inspection all food, fresh fruit and vegetables, plant material and animal products on arrival in Australia to ensure they are free of pests and diseases. If you’re not sure, ask a Quarantine Officer – Declare or beware! 

If someone you know is breaking Australian quarantine, export or food inspection laws, AQIS want to hear from you. 

Report breaches to the AQIS Redline 1800 803 006. This is a confidential, freecall service.

Travelling into and within South Australia 

It is illegal to carry fruit and vegetables across all borders into South Australia, unless they have been certified free of pests and diseases. 

South Australian Quarantine roadblocks and honesty bins are strategically placed throughout South Australia.  Mobile quarantine roadblocks operate on country roads.

Quarantine roadblocks

You are required to stop at a quarantine roadblock and declare any fruit, vegetables or plant material. A Plant Health Inspector has the power to search your vehicle and sieze any probited items.

Quarantine roadblocks are located on the:

• Sturt Highway at Yamba between Mildura and Renmark
• Eyre Highway at Ceduna
• Barrier Highway at Oodla Wirra
• Mallee Highway between Murrayville and Pinnaroo

The map of roadblocks shows where the roadblocks are located.

Quarantine road signs and fruit disposal bins

Highways not serviced by permanent quarantine roadblocks have quarantine road signs and honesty fruit disposal bins. You must dispose of any prohibited fruit and vegetables at these sites. These roads are subject to random roadblock operations. If you are detected carrying fruit and vegetables past these bins you will be fined.

Quarantine road signs and fruit disposal bins are located on the:

• Nelson Highway near Mount Gambier
• Princes Highway near Mount Gambier
• Glenelg Highway near Mount Gambier
• Wimmera Highway near Naracoorte
• Dukes Highway near Bordertown
• Stuart Highway at Marla

To raise children's awareness of the need to follow quarantine restrictions and to make the family trip more enjoyable PIRSA has colouring posters available:

• Don't give fruitfly for a free ride (.PDF) 800Kb

• Stop the Border Bandit (.PDF) 126 KB

• Become a Fruit Fly Fighter (.PDF) 94KB

Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone (FFEZ) 

To help protect fruit-growing regions in South Australia, northern Victoria and southern New South Wales, growers, industry and governments from the three states joined forces in 1994 to establish a Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone (FFEZ)

Do not take fruit (including capsicum, chillies, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini and squash) into the FFEZ.  Further information can be found at www.fruitfly.net.au

Travel into the Riverland of South Australia

You must not take fruit and vegetables into the South Australia Riverland FFEZ unless they have been purchased within South Australia and you can provide a valid detailed receipt or a Plant Health Certificate (.PDF) 9KB. 

Fruit and vegetables with receipts are not to be carried across State borders.

Quarantine road signs and disposal bins are located on the following approaches to the Riverland within the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone:

• Burra to Morgan Road
• Eudunda to Morgan Road
  
• Karoonda to Loxton Road
• Pinnaroo to Loxton Road
• Sedan to Swan Reach Road
• Sturt Highway near Blanchetown
• Sturt Highway Yamba

The map of the South Australia Riverland FFEZ shows the area where conditions apply for bringing both home-grown and commercially produced fruit and vegetables into the zone.
 

For more information

For more information about the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone contact:

• Plant Health Operations Fruit Fly Hotline 1300 666 010 or
• Quarantine Domestic Emergency Plant Pest Freecall 1800 084 881

Travelling within Australia

Plant pests, diseases and weeds can spread from one part of Australia to another through the movement of fruit, vegetables, plants, flowers and soil. Restrictions apply to each State and Territory for the movement of these products.

The various Australian State Quarantine Inspection Services have identified procedures by which animal and plant material may move from one State to another without spreading pests and diseases. Please contact them when intending to carry animal and plant material and/or produce across state borders. Also available is the Quarantine Domestic Travellers Guide for all Australian states detailing fruit and vegetables that can be carried when travelling across state borders.

• Australian Capital Territory  
  Environmental Protection ACT (external site)  Phone: 02 6207 2581
• New South Wales
  NSW Department of Primary Industries (external site)  Phone: 0428 696 487
• Northern Territory
  Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines (external site)  Phone: 08 8999 2138
• Victoria
  Department of Primary Industries (external site) Phone: 03 8371 3500 or 03 9210 9390
• Queensland
  Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (external site)  Phone: 07 3404 6999
• South Australia
  Department of Primary Industries and Resources SA  Phone: 1300 666 010
• Tasmania
  Department of Primary Industries and Water (external site)  Phone: 03 6233 4967
• Western Australia
  Department of Agriculture and Food (external site) Phone: 08 9039 3227 or 08 9334 1800