It is the visiting military's responsibility to ensure that all military equipment arriving in Australian territory is free from biosecurity risk material.
Military personnel and their equipment pose a biosecurity risk to Australia due to the environment in which they train and operate.
Some cleaning guides have been developed to assist in the cleaning of military equipment:
- Australian Defence Force—Force Extraction Cleaning Manual
- US Military—Guides are available on the APAN website
- Other countries—see contact details below
More information on guidelines for offshore pre- shipment inspections for the Australian Defence Force and Visiting Military.
Vehicles and associated equipment
All vehicles must be free from biosecurity risk material. All possible sites of contamination must be cleaned. This may require partial or full dismantling of the vehicle. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) has the power to export contaminated vehicles from Australian territory at the importer's or owner's expense.
All clothing, packs, webbing, boots and ancillary equipment must be fully unpacked, dismantled and thoroughly cleaned. This will ensure that departmental officers have access to all areas to allow for an efficient inspection.
Backpack and webbing must be completely unpacked and dismantled prior to inspection. This includes the removal of tape and unclipping of any pouches. Supporting boards and/or supporting metal bars inside packs must be removed. It is the responsibility of military personnel to perform all unpacking, presentation for inspection, cleaning and repacking of equipment.
Parachutes are considered high risk and will be thoroughly inspected. Military personnel must ensure that parachutes are free from biosecurity risk material prior to packing.
All personal baggage will be inspected. Military clothing and boots present a particularly high risk. Seeds and soil are often found along the tongue of boots and under the inner soles. It is important that a great deal of attention is taken when cleaning these areas. Pockets and velcro strips in military clothing attract a lot of biosecurity risk material and also require careful cleaning.
For information on containerised equipment please refer to Cargo containers: biosecurity aspects and procedures. This document contains information on container cleanliness requirements, timber and dunnage requirements and the potential means of introducing serious pests and diseases into Australian territory via containers. This document is designed to answer most questions on Australian biosecurity entry requirements for containers.
For further information or for general military enquiries, please contact:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Operational Machinery and Military Team
Phone: + 61 7 3246 8755
Email: Military