Cultural and seasonal events

You must declare any goods you are bringing or sending to Australia.

Mailed goods should include a complete list of the contents of the parcels and any postal declaration labels or forms required.

Travellers bringing goods into Australia must declare their goods on the Incoming Passenger Card given to you by the crew on your aircraft or cruise vessel. This is a legal document.

When arriving in Australia:

• mark YES on your card if you are carrying certain food, plant material or animal products
• you will have the opportunity to voluntarily dispose of any goods of concern in the bins at the terminal.

If you do not dispose of biosecurity risk items or declare them on your Incoming Passenger Card you could be issued with an infringement notice of up to $6,260 and face possible criminal prosecution. Your visa may also be cancelled, and if so, you will be refused entry into Australia and you will not be eligible to apply to come to Australia again for up to three years.

Sample Incoming Passenger Cards are available on the Department of Home Affairs website.

Declaring items does not automatically mean they will be confiscated.

• Goods that don’t pose a biosecurity risk will be sent on or returned after inspection.
• If goods require treatment, you will be given the option to have them treated at your expense. It may take several weeks for the items to be treated and returned to you.
• Where treatment is not an option, the goods will not be permitted into Australia and you will be notified.

Do not bring or send:

• bullet shells
• poppies
• rosemary
• soil
• wattle sprigs.

Items that may require treatment at your expense:

• sand contaminated with soil or driftwood.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• cooked Christmas cakes and puddings
• chocolates
• confectionary
• toys not containing animal or plant material.

Do not bring or send:

• bark or straw based goods
• fresh or dried conifer
• fresh fruit and vegetables
• fresh or dried holly
• fresh or dried mistletoe
• hampers (containing certain food, meat or plant material)
• pine cones
• potpourri
• raw nuts
• salami and other meats
• toys containing seeds and sand
• wreaths.

Do not bring or send:

• sweets (mithai) such as burfi, ras malai, rasgulla and pedas
• products containing dairy
• fresh fruit
• dried fruit
• flowers and other plant material
• herbs
• raw nuts
• seeds
• spices
• tea.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• artificial flowers
• fabric, gold or silver beads and coins
• personalised photo items.

Diwali or Festival of Lights fact sheet

For further information on Diwali, download the following fact sheet.

Download

Other languages

You can download this document in different languages.

If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• artificial flowers
• chocolate
• personalised photo items
• cooked cakes
• biscuits
• buns.

Items that may require treatment at your expense:

• blown or painted egg shells
• dried plant material, such as grapevines or straw.

Do not bring or send:

• fresh fruit or plant material
• raw or cooked whole eggs
• uncanned animal products, including cooked lamb and pork
• used egg cartons.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• chocolate
• confectionery.

Do not bring or send:

• corn husk dolls
• pumpkins.

Do not bring or send:

• ground nuts
• traditional Indian sweets (mithai) which contain milk, such as barfi, mysore pak, gulab jamun, rasgulla, pedas or soan-papdi
• radish.

Common Lunar New Year gifts pose a high risk of introducing pests and diseases. To avoid this, gifts should be purchased in Australia.

Do not bring or send:

• meat products, including chicken, beef and pork sausages whether fresh, frozen, dried, preserved or cured
• whole eggs and products containing eggs, including duck eggs
• dairy products such as milk and yoghurt
• fresh and dried fruit including citrus, persimmons, lychees and longans
• other plant products including banana leaves and fresh bamboo shoots
• traditional herbal medicines containing ganoderma fungus or cordyceps
• rice.

If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.

You can listen to our podcast to learn more about Lunar New Year and biosecurity.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• mooncakes, with no meat, commercially prepared and packaged
• mooncakes with egg yolks and no meat, commercially prepared and packaged
• chocolate mooncakes.

Do not bring or send:

• fresh pomelo
• mooncakes containing meat or birds nest
• star fruit
• taro
• any other fresh fruit or vegetables.

Mid-Autumn Festival fact sheet

For further information on the Mid-Autumn Festival, download the following fact sheet.

Download

Other languages

You can download this document in different languages.

If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.

Do not bring or send:

• conifer sprigs
• ornaments made with straw
• seeds.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• cotton Rakhi threads with plastic, fabric, gold or silver beads
• gold or silver coins
• personalised photo items
• artificial flowers.

Do not bring or send:

• dried fruits
• grains
• Rakhi threads made with seeds or flowers
• traditional Indian sweets (mithai) which contain milk, such as barfi, mysore pak, gulab jamun, rasgulla, pedas or soan-papdi.

Rakhi (Raksha-Bandhan) fact sheet

For further information on Rakhi, download the following fact sheet.

Download

Other languages

You can download this document in different languages.

If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.

Items that are permitted only if they meet biosecurity import conditions:

• dried dates and doum
• desserts
• Holy water
• spices
• teas
• wood products, such as religious articles and toys.

Refer to BICON for specific conditions.

Do not bring or send:

• fresh vegetables
• meat and meat products
• grains, rice, wheat (unless commercially ground or milled), lentils, beans or seeds
• plants including raw tobacco, live cuttings, roots and bulbs
• nuts.

Do not bring or send:

• lucky plant kits
• shamrocks
• shillelaghs
• straw crosses.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• artificial flowers
• dried shamrocks
• fabric, gold or silver beads and coins
• personalised photo items
• shamrocks embedded in plastic.

Special import conditions apply for:

• etrog
• myrtle branches
• palm branches
• willow branches.

Steps for bringing festival items into Australia

Before bringing these items into Australia, you must check the our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) and search for your item to find out if you’re allowed to carry it in your luggage.

Follow these steps on how to bring festival items into Australia.

1. Visit BICON before you travel and check your items are:
   1. a permitted species
   2. from a permitted country
   3. free from insects, disease symptoms and other contaminants, such as soil
   4. packed in clean, new, pest-proof packaging and clearly labelled
   5. secured to prevent insect infestation and contamination before they are shipped to Australia
2. You need to obtain a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country’s National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO).
3. When you arrive in Australia, a biosecurity officer will:
   1. check your documents and phytosanitary certificate are valid
   2. inspect the packaging for damage.
   3. inspect your items for live insects, weed seeds, diseases and other contaminants.
4. If contaminants are not found, you can take your festival items.  
5. If contaminants are found, the festival items will be sent to one of our laboratories to check if they are a biosecurity risk to Australia.
   1. If the contaminants are not a biosecurity risk, we will release the items to you.
   2. If the contaminants are a biosecurity risk, we will provide you with a list of options. These include treatment, destroying the goods or exporting them from Australia.
   3. If treatment is chosen, the goods will be sent to an approved facility and the risk managed at your expense.

Do not bring or send:

• dried flowers
• fresh flowers.

Items that do not pose a biosecurity risk and are permitted:

• chocolate
• confectionary.