If you are travelling to Tasmania as a resident or a visitor, or moving to Tasmania permanently, you have an important role to play in helping to protect the state from the impacts of pests, weeds and diseases.
You don’t need to be a biosecurity expert, but you do need to be aware of the biosecurity risks presented by items you bring with you. Pests, weeds or diseases can be present on a broad range of items, especially if they are dirty or contaminated with mud, soil, or plant materials.
Common items that can present a biosecurity risk include your clothing, footwear, recreational equipment (such as fishing, camping, cycling, bushwalking, hunting, diving, surfing and golfing gear), food (including fresh produce and animal products), or any other items that are not clean and dry.
To help protect Tasmania and to meet your general biosecurity duty (GBD), you need to be aware of the actions you can take to remove or minimise biosecurity risks.
Travelling to Tasmania
Before travelling you should thoroughly check that you are not carrying any restricted biosecurity matter on your person, in your luggage or within any unaccompanied luggage or belongings. Find out what you can and cannot bring into Tasmania.
If you do find that you have carried any biosecurity matter with you into Tasmania you should declare this to a Biosecurity Officer immediately on arrival, or dispose of the biosecurity matter in the marked biosecurity disposal bin.
You should also take all reasonable and practicable measures to ensure that any outdoor or recreational items (i.e. fishing, camping, cycling, bushwalking, hunting, diving, surfing and golf equipment) you bring with you, have been CHECKED, CLEANED and DRIED and are free from soil, dirt, seeds and other foreign matter.
You should be ready to present any recreational or outdoor equipment to a Biosecurity Tasmania Officer for inspection on arrival.
Throughout your stay, you must adhere to any specific biosecurity instructions provided by tourism or agricultural operations.
Bringing your dog to Tasmania
Planning to bring your four-legged friend? Tasmania is the only Australian state to be provisionally free of hydatid disease. Tasmania is also not known to have an established presence of some dog parasites, including the brown dog tick. To keep it that way, Tasmania has special entry requirements that you must meet before you can bring your dog into the State.
Dogs must be treated for hydatid tapeworm with a wormer containing the drug Praziquantel within 14 days before entry to Tasmania.
On their entry into Tasmania dogs will need to be declared as having been treated for hydatid tapeworm, and that they have also been checked for ticks. Use the owner/importer declaration form below.
Declaration by Owner or Importer for the Entry of Dogs into Tasmania (PDF 237Kb)
Planning to bring any other pets? Find out what animals you can and cannot bring to Tasmania.
Moving to Tasmania
In addition to the above, if you are moving permanently to Tasmania you must accurately fill out and lodge a personal effects declaration prior to importing your personal effects into Tasmania:
Declaration for the Movement of Unaccompanied Personal Effects into Tasmania – Self Move (PDF 257Kb)
Declaration for the Movement of Unaccompanied Personal Effects into Tasmania - Transported by Removalist (PDF 221Kb)
Ensure that your personal effects are free from soil, dirt, seeds and other foreign biosecurity matter prior to importation.
Ensure you are not transporting/carrying/packing anything that doesn’t meet legislated requirements. See the list of what you can and cannot bring to Tasmania.
If you SEE something while you are in Tasmania that is unusual or of biosecurity concern, such as potential exotic plant pests or diseases, weeds, invasive animal species or aquatic pests or diseases:
SECURE the site by restricting access (and limiting movement in the case of suspected animal diseases) AND take a photo, noting the location; and
REPORT it to Biosecurity Tasmania as soon as possible - see reporting details below.
Please note: taking samples in the field may increase the risk of spreading the biosecurity risk. Biosecurity Tasmania will provide further instruction regarding possible sample collection and submission.
Contact and reporting details
To 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:
Exotic Plant Pest Hotline (1800 084 881) or Emergency Animal Disease Hotline (1800 675 888).
For more information and resources on Biosecurity in Tasmania:
Subscribe to the Tasmania biosecurity advisories and follow Biosecurity Tasmania on Facebook.
*Please note that this information contains minimum recommendations only. The General Biosecurity Duty 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.