This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a story like this, and it almost certainly won’t be the last time either…
Celebrity fined for not declaring flowers in Australia
Indian actress Navya Nair recently traveled to Australia for the Onam celebrations (a Hindu cultural festival), organized by the Malayali Association of Victoria. She flew from Kochi (COK) to Singapore (SIN) to Melbourne (MEL) in Singapore Airlines business class, and was traveling with a small jasmine flower garland, which was given to her by her dad.
Australia has some of the world’s strictest biosecurity laws, restricting the import of plant materials, food products, etc. The biggest issue was her failure to declare this, as she ticked “no” in the box about bringing in prohibited goods. So she ended up being fined 1,980 AUD (1,312 USD) for “knowingly producing a false or misleading document in compliance or purported compliance with the biosecurity act.”
She had a pretty good attitude about this whole situation, and shared the following:
“Before I came here, it was my father who bought jasmine for me. He cut it into two parts and gave it to me. He asked me to wear one in my hair from Kochi to Singapore, since it would wither by the time I reached. He told me to keep the second one in my handbag so I could wear it on the onward journey from Singapore. I put it in my carry bag,”
“What I did was against the law. It was a mistake I made unknowingly. However, ignorance is no excuse. For bringing a 15 centimer jasmine string, officials asked me to pay a fine of $1,980. A mistake is a mistake, though it was not intentional. They told me the fine must be paid within 28 days.”
Is Australia too strict, or just enforcing the rules?
Countries take varying approaches when it comes to the extent to which they enforce rules, and issue fines vs. warnings for first time offenders. It sure seems like Australia is one of the strictest countries in the world when it comes to fining people for things like this.
For example, a couple of years ago, I wrote about how a rather prolific airline geek flew Qatar Airways to Australia. She received a rose in the Qatar Airways lounge in Doha and traveled with it on her flight to Perth (PER). The exact same thing happened — she didn’t declare it, and ended up facing a huge fine.
I see both sides here. On the one hand, in all of these situations, it’s clearly an honest mistake, and bringing one flower into the country isn’t the same as arriving with a bag of cocaine.
At the same time, if Australia believes it’s important to keep plant materials out, and if people fill out binding government documents without actually carefully reading what they’re agreeing to, then I guess it’s not totally unreasonable that they’d try to hold people accountable for that.
After all, stories of people being fined for things like this probably increases awareness of the country’s regulations, which I imagine is the goal.
Bottom line
An Indian actress has been fined for entering Australia with a small jasmine flower garland, but failing to declare it. Australia has among the strictest biosecurity regulations in the world, and takes this kind of stuff seriously. So as wild as it might seem to fine someone so much for a little flower garland, this is pretty standard for the country.
It’s just a reminder to think twice regarding what you bring into Australia…
What do you make of this fine for bringing a flower garland into Australia — is it fair, or an overkill?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.