Australia Post and Courier Services - General Biosecurity Duty

​​​​​​​​As an Australia Post or a courier service employee in Tasmania, you have an important role to play in helping to protect the State from the harmful impacts of pests, weeds and diseases, and may often times be the first person who identifies potential biosecurity matter upon its entry into Tasmania.

Listed below are some biosecurity actions you can take at a facility that manages post or parcel movements to meet your general biosecurity duty (GBD) and to help keep Tasmania biosecurity safe.

Important Biosecurity Actions

  • While sorting mail and/or parcels, if you SEE a package that you suspect may contain biosecurity matter or a biosecurity carrier (due to labelling, appearance, smell, previous experience, etc.), you must SECURE the item by placing it on the approved quarantine inspection bench at your facility and then REPORT it to Biosecurity Tasmania (BT) by either speaking to the on-site inspector (Australia Post facilities) or calling BT if an inspector is not present.

  • If you SEE a sticker on a package that says “ATTENTION: BIOSECURITY TASMANIA” or similar, you must SECURE the item by placing it on the approved quarantine inspection bench at your facility and then REPORT it to BT by either speaking to the on-site inspector (Australia Post facilities) or calling BT if an inspector is not present.

  • If you SEE a package that you suspect contains live animals, you must SECURE the parcel by placing it on the approved quarantine inspection bench at your facility and then REPORT it to BT by either speaking to the onsite inspector (Australia Post facilities) or calling BT if an inspector is not present (details below) as soon as possible. Parcels containing live animals are in most cases time critical and for the welfare of the animals must be inspected as soon as practicable.

  • If you suspect for any reason that a parcel may contain biosecurity risk matter or a potential carrier of biosecurity risk matter, NOTIFY and SEEK ADVICE from BT staff. An inspector will determine the biosecurity status of a parcel and subsequently discharge your GBD.​

​Contact and reporting

Contact Biosecurity Tasmania for general information or to report a suspected pest, weed or disease:

Phone: (03) 6165 3777

Email: Biosecurity.Tasmania@nre.tas.gov.au​ 

Alternatively, for reporting pests, weeds or diseases, you can call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline (1800 084 881) or the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline (1800 675 858). 

​Stay up to date on biosecurity in Tasmania

Subscribing to get Tasmanian Biosecurity Advisories is the best way you can keep yourself up-to-date and fully informed about Tasmanian biosecurity issues. Our Advisories cover topics such as changes or proposed changes to Tasmania’s import regulations, animal health and welfare, plant health, forthcoming regulation reviews and opportunities for public comment, new or emerging pest/disease risks and a range of other matters related to Tasmania’s biosecurity​.

Follow Biosecurity Tasmania on Facebook​.

​Please note that this information contains minimum recommendations only. The GBD requires a person dealing with biosecurity matter or a carrier to take all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent, eliminate or minimise any biosecurity risk associated with the dealing. Such measures may not be specified in any regulations, guidelines or other official publications.