Australia runs one of the strictest biosecurity regimes on earth, and your household shipment is not exempt from it. Every consignment of unaccompanied personal effects is subject to biosecurity control by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), which assesses your B534 Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement and packing list and very often inspects the goods on arrival (DAFF). Get it right and your container clears in days; get it wrong and you face inspection delays, treatment costs, destruction of items, or an infringement notice. Penalties scale with the risk — from a minimum of 2 penalty units for a lower-risk undeclared item up to 20 penalty units, roughly A$7,280, for goods deliberately concealed to avoid detection, at the penalty-unit rate of A$364 that applies from 1 July 2026 (DAFF Infringement Notice Scheme; DAFF — Infringement notices at the airport). This guide explains exactly what DAFF looks for and how to pack so your move clears quarantine.

Key takeaways

• Everything of biosecurity interest must be declared — DAFF is interested in any item that came from, or has been in contact with, animals, plants, food, soil or water. Declaring costs nothing; failing to declare can cost thousands (DAFF).
• The B534 form is a legal statement. It is administered by the Australian Border Force with biosecurity input from DAFF, and DAFF always assesses it against your packing list to flag goods of concern (DAFF).
• Wood is the classic trap. All wooden, bamboo, cane, rattan and wicker articles must be declared and be clean and free of bark, insects and soil — look for holes and sawdust that signal borers (DAFF timber).
• Clean everything that touched the outdoors. Camping, sporting and gardening gear, footwear and vacuum cleaners are the most commonly intercepted items — they must be free of soil, seeds and plant debris before packing (DAFF).
• Some goods will need treatment — fumigation, heat treatment or gamma irradiation — either offshore with a certificate or on arrival at your expense (DAFF timber).
• Check BICON before you pack. The Biosecurity Import Conditions system holds import conditions for thousands of commodities and tells you if an item needs a permit or treatment (DAFF).
• Rules change and fees are cost-recovered. Biosecurity charges and penalty amounts are updated regularly, so verify current fees and conditions with DAFF before your goods ship (DAFF).

1. How the biosecurity clearance process actually works

When your sea or air consignment arrives, two agencies are involved. The Australian Border Force handles customs and duty; DAFF handles biosecurity. DAFF "always undertakes an assessment of the B534 form and packing list to determine if there are any goods of potential biosecurity concern" (DAFF). If nothing on your paperwork raises a flag, the consignment may be released on documents alone. In practice, most household shipments are physically inspected, because they contain exactly the categories DAFF worries about: wood, footwear, outdoor gear and food.

Two factors drive how hard your goods are examined. The first is what you are shipping — items of potential biosecurity risk require inspection. The second is where they are coming from: goods arriving from countries with identifiable biosecurity risks (for example, regions with khapra beetle, brown marmorated stink bug or foot-and-mouth disease) attract a higher level of inspection (DAFF). A move from a stink-bug risk country during the September–April high-risk season, for instance, can trigger mandatory treatment of the whole container regardless of contents.

This is why an accurate, itemised packing list is your best friend. Vague entries like "misc. household" invite a full unpack; a clear list lets the officer target only the boxes that matter.

2. What must be declared

Declare anything that came from an animal or a plant, or that has been in contact with animals, plants, water, food or soil (DAFF). The important legal point: you are never penalised for declaring, even if the item turns out to be prohibited — DAFF will simply assess it and decide whether it can enter, be treated, or must be removed. You are penalised for not declaring (DAFF advice to travellers).

For your unaccompanied shipment, the high-interest categories are:

• Timber and wooden articles — furniture, carvings, picture frames, tool handles, musical instruments, wooden toys.
• Bamboo, cane, rattan, wicker, willow, water hyacinth and banana leaf — baskets, furniture, mats.
• Plant material and seeds — dried flowers, potpourri, wreaths, straw, pine cones, decorative seeds.
• Food — even sealed, commercially packaged food should be declared and listed.
• Animal products — feathers, wool, skins, shells, bone, coral, taxidermy.
• Used outdoor, sporting and gardening equipment — tents, hiking boots, golf clubs, bicycles, lawnmowers, garden tools, vacuum cleaners.
• Soil and anything carrying it — this is effectively prohibited; soil is one of Australia’s highest-risk contaminants.

If you carry any such items in your hand luggage or checked bags rather than the container, they must also be declared on your Incoming Passenger Card on arrival (DAFF).

3. The B534 Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement

The B534 is the master document for goods shipped separately from you. It is a legal declaration, completed in English, and it must accompany your consignment. DAFF assesses it alongside your packing list before anything is released (DAFF). To import goods duty-free under the personal-effects concession you must be arriving from a place outside Australia, and the goods must be your own personal property that you owned and used while overseas (DAFF).

Complete it honestly and in detail. If you list wooden furniture and outdoor gear openly, DAFF can pre-assess the risk and often clear you faster; concealment or omission is what turns a routine inspection into an infringement.

4. Wood, bamboo, wicker and cane — the number-one trap

Wood is where most personal moves stumble. All wooden, bamboo and related articles entering Australia must be declared to a departmental officer on arrival, whether or not you believe you have complied with all import conditions (DAFF timber). On inspection, articles must be "clean, free of bark, insects, soil or other contaminants" — and DAFF explicitly tells you to "look for holes and sawdust as this may indicate that your article contains insect pests" such as wood borers (DAFF timber).

Furniture and baskets containing bamboo, banana leaf, cane, rattan, water hyacinth, wicker or willow have specific import conditions you should check on BICON before shipping (DAFF). Bark on a rustic garden bench or a hairline borer hole in an antique dresser is enough to fail inspection.

Note that this is separate from the timber packaging (ISPM 15) rules that apply to the pallets and crates your goods are shipped on — professional movers handle that, but any raw-wood dunnage inside your container is also assessed.

5. How to prepare and pack to clear quarantine

Before packing, DAFF’s rule is simple: any item that has been in contact with food, soil, plants, animals or their products must be thoroughly cleaned and free from contamination before it goes in the box (DAFF).

Work through it category by category:

• Footwear and clothing used in rural areas or near animals: scrub soles and treads until no soil remains; there must be no seeds caught in laces or turn-ups (DAFF).
• Camping and outdoor gear: dismantle tents, remove every trace of soil, grass, leaves and insects; dry everything to prevent mould.
• Gardening tools and lawnmowers: remove all caked soil and plant matter; empty grass catchers and drain fuel where required.
• Bicycles and sporting equipment: clean soil from tyres, cleats and pegs.
• Vacuum cleaners: empty and clean — a full bag is a concentrated sample of soil, hair and plant debris and is routinely flagged.
• Wooden and cane items: ensure they are bark-free and dry, and inspect for borer holes.
• Food: ship as little as possible. Fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry, pork, eggs, dairy, live plants and seeds are not permitted (DAFF). Sealed commercial goods may be allowed but must be declared and checked on BICON.

One packing detail that surprises people: do not reuse second-hand cartons that previously carried animal or plant material or soil — fruit and vegetable cartons, meat boxes, egg cartons and fertiliser bags — because the packaging itself is a contamination risk (DAFF). Use clean, new boxes.

6. Treatment, re-export and destruction

If an item carries a biosecurity risk that cannot simply be cleaned off, DAFF will require treatment. Approved options include fumigation (gas treatment to kill live insects in timber and other goods), heat treatment (to devitalise plant material including bark), and gamma irradiation (for risk material that cannot be removed) (DAFF timber). Many manufactured wooden articles are treated offshore by heat, fumigation or irradiation and travel with a treatment certificate; where that is not done, goods are commonly treated after arrival, often by methyl bromide fumigation (DAFF timber).

Where a risk cannot be treated, DAFF may direct that the item be exported or destroyed at your expense (DAFF). All of this carries cost: non-account clients pay an up-front document-screening fee, with final charges depending on the officer time taken to assess and inspect, plus treatment and — at Approved Arrangement depots — facilitation fees for port charges, transport and container unpacking (DAFF). Because biosecurity fees are cost-recovered and reviewed each year, confirm current rates with DAFF before you ship.

7. Penalties for getting it wrong

Non-declaration is treated seriously under the Biosecurity Act 2015. For travellers arriving with undeclared goods, a biosecurity officer can issue an infringement notice on a sliding scale: a minimum of 2 penalty units for lower-risk undeclared goods, 6 or 12 penalty units for goods that pose a high biosecurity risk (such as meat, seeds, soil or wood), and up to 20 penalty units — roughly A$7,280 at the A$364 penalty-unit rate that applies from 1 July 2026 — reserved for goods that are deliberately concealed to prevent an officer finding them or determining their true nature (the A$330 rate applied to offences committed from 7 November 2024) (DAFF — Infringement notices at the airport). So the A$7,280 figure is the concealment maximum, not the routine amount for an honest oversight.

More broadly, the department’s infringement notices under the Act are commonly set at 12 penalty units for an individual and 60 penalty units for a body corporate (company) (DAFF — Other infringement notices). Serious or deliberate breaches can be prosecuted, carrying far larger court-imposed penalties, and temporary visa holders can have their visa cancelled for a biosecurity breach on arrival. Confirm the exact current amounts on the DAFF pages above before relying on any figure — penalty units are indexed and change.

The reassuring flip side: because you face no penalty for declaring, over-declaring is always the safe choice. When in doubt, list it.

How Flyto handles this

Flyto runs a single, all-in door-to-door Platinum service for moves to or from Australia — our only overseas tier, because a country this strict is no place for a stripped-back option. We complete and lodge your B534 and packing list to DAFF’s expectations, pre-screen your inventory against BICON so wooden, cane and outdoor items are flagged before they ever enter the container, and advise on cleaning and offshore treatment so you arrive with certificates rather than surprises. If DAFF calls an inspection or treatment, our Australian clearance partners manage it end to end and keep you informed on cost and timing. Whether you are moving to Australia from Europe, Asia or the USA, or returning home from Australia, we handle the biosecurity paperwork so your household clears quarantine cleanly. See our Australia relocation hub or read the full moving-to-Australia pillar guide.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really have to declare sealed, brand-new items made of wood?
Yes. Declaration is based on what the item is, not on whether it is new. All wooden and bamboo articles must be declared on arrival whether or not you believe you have met the conditions (DAFF timber).

Will declaring a prohibited item get me fined?
No. You will not face a penalty if you declare all goods, even if they are not permitted — DAFF simply assesses them and decides the outcome. Penalties apply to undeclared goods (DAFF).

Can I ship food in my container?
Keep it to a minimum. Fresh produce, meat, poultry, pork, eggs, dairy, live plants and seeds are prohibited; some sealed commercial food may be allowed but must be declared and checked on BICON first (DAFF).

What is the single most common reason personal effects get held up?
Uncleaned outdoor, sporting and gardening equipment, footwear and wooden items carrying soil, seeds or bark. Thorough cleaning before packing prevents most delays (DAFF).

How much does treatment or inspection cost?
Fees are cost-recovered and vary with officer time, treatment type and depot handling, and are reviewed each year. There is no fixed flat rate — confirm current charges with DAFF (DAFF).

How large are the fines if I don’t declare?
It depends on the goods. At the airport the scale runs from 2 penalty units for lower-risk undeclared items up to 20 penalty units (about A$7,280 at the A$364 rate from 1 July 2026) for deliberately concealed high-risk goods; the department’s general infringement notices are commonly 12 penalty units for an individual and 60 for a company. Penalty units are indexed — confirm the current amounts with DAFF (DAFF — Infringement notices at the airport).

What is BICON and do I need to use it?
BICON is DAFF’s Biosecurity Import Conditions database covering thousands of commodities; it tells you whether an item needs a permit or treatment. Check it for any wood, plant, animal or food item before shipping (DAFF).

Can my visa be affected by a biosecurity breach?
Yes. Temporary visa holders can have their visa cancelled for failing to declare high-risk biosecurity goods on arrival, in addition to any financial penalty (DAFF).

These rules keep changing — how do I stay current?
Biosecurity conditions, fees and penalty amounts are updated regularly. Always verify against DAFF’s website (and BICON for specific items) shortly before your goods ship (DAFF).

Sources

• DAFF — Moving to Australia or importing personal effects/household goods
• DAFF — Preparing your personal effects for shipment to Australia
• DAFF — Importing wooden and bamboo articles for non-commercial (personal) use
• DAFF — Bringing or mailing goods to Australia
• DAFF — Advice to travellers
• DAFF — Infringement Notice Scheme
• DAFF — Infringement notices at the airport
• DAFF — Other infringement notices
• Biosecurity Act 2015 — Federal Register of Legislation (current compilation)
• Crimes Act 1914 s 4AA (penalty unit value) — Federal Register of Legislation