Spellbound

Please bear with me - I need to vent

Our container arrived into Brisbane on 4th December 08.

A solid brass empty shell/cart case similar to below was seized by the Australian Customs Service. It was itemised on our inventory as an empty brass shell.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HG0m7Y4yGn...hell_105mm.jpg



We were told in a letter from the Australian Customs Service that the goods were prohibited without the appropriate permit from the Minister for Home Affairs, and authorisation from the State/Territory police that we are legally allowed to possess the items in our home state.

They also suggested that this kind of importation was viewed seriously and could result in prosecution action being taken.

We made a claim for the return of the goods (shell) within the 30 day period.

We then had 120 days from the receipt of our claim to get the required import permission. Customs were now referring to this shell as a 'projectile'!

On the 16th February, we wrote to Queensland Police to request permission to import the 'projectile' into Queensland. We are still waiting for there reply and have chased them up about it.

The next step would be to forward the application and Queensland Police consent, to the Minister of Home Affairs, Bob Debus for his permission.

REALLY!! We store fishing rods in it for goodness sake! Its an empty solid brass shell. I cant believe the bureaucracy of it all.

They are now talking about applying to the court for a condemnation order and recovering cost from us which could be $500 - $2500 if it goes to court!

The other option is to DO NOTHING and customs will arrange disposal of the goods at no cost or inconvenience to us.

Its a family heirloom - worth next to nothing but has sentimental value to us. It cam from the Royal HMS Antelope which is now resting off Bluff Cove in the Falkland Isles. My father in law came by it whilst the frigate was on sea trial in the 1970's.

Sorry Im seething. What a waste of everyones time - surely the Police, Customs and Minister have better things to do.

painter in aus

falkland isles....what a story

my brother did the "yomp" with the parachuters, what a man

Grayling

Welcome to the land of rules, regulations and jobsworths.

Dorothy

It's a prohibited item in Australia so you will need a permit to own it. Simple as.

Spellbound

Yes, thats what they are saying.

We have been ask to apply for a permit to import weapons!

Friends have seen them for sale at a market somewhere on the GC for $40

One word - commonsense!

njk435

Mate,
Defence members returning from overseas have to leave their weapon magazines in theatre as Customs do not allow importation of weapon items.
If the Defence force can't bring in weapon items, what hope do you reckon a civilian has?

I believe Defence gets round this by bringing the items in en masse as stores, rather than individualls importing them, however this does show the jobsworth attitude of Australian Public Services.

I think once you get the permits, you'll be fine.

joquin

Not in this F***ing Country m8

Dorothy

It's actually 2 words, but we'll let you off with a warning this time.

I understand what you're saying, but it's all part and parcel of living here, I guess. They want you to apply for a permit or you can't have the shell.

Spellbound

Having googled up a bit about it now - we understand that it is classed as a prohibited item and however ridiculous is seems, we like the fact that Australia have a hard policy to protect their country's borders.

We moved it to NZ giving it no thought and with no questions asked and never even thought that Australia would be any different. We weren't aware of this at all (if we had been aware, we may have followed a different path!)

We have applied for a permit but had a 120 day limit to do so. We wrote to Queensland Police in February and are still waiting for a reply. (They quite rightly obviously have better things to do with their time)

We have one day now to get Queensland Polices Permission (having waited for 10 weeks) and the Minister for Home Affairs permission, so I don't think its going to happen in time and will more than likely have to withdraw our claim or face the Australian Government Solicitor commencing proceedings on us.

We are left feeling upset that a treasured family heirloom with history attached will be destroyed and lost forever - what a shame.

Spellbound

I thought it might be but it didn't come up as a spell checker so I gave it the benefit of the doubt!

Dorothy

Good luck with your application. It may seem like a silly thing to some, but it's important for you so that's what matters.

Toe Dipper

For future reference, this item should be listed on the import list as a brass ornament!

I will have the same problem with a WW1 shell case and a shell (less the explosive and fuse).

Do you think the description of "paper weight" would suffice?

TD

Spellbound

We weren't trying to hide it or mislead because we didn't know we would have a problem with it.

But this should definitely be a lesson to anyone else coming over.

See BE is useful!

sj oldfield

I had a similar problem with customs but just had to accept their rules.
When I was a kiddie, many, many years ago, my nan had a beautiful stuffed kaola bear on her sideboard, it was years old and it was given to her, as a gift by her brother, who lived in Sydney, when he returned to the UK for a holiday in about 1970!!
When nan died I claimed it!!!

Shipped it over to Oz when we came, only to discover that customes had ripped it to shreds as they were not sure what the 'stuffing' was.
It was completely destroyed, and I was quite upset as not only was it the only thing that I owned of nans, but it originally came from Oz!!!
BUT I had to accept that customs have the right to check these things out!!

elfman

I inadvertently did something similar when I moved back to Britain after a couple of years in Africa:

When I lived in Uganda I climbed one of the extinct volcanoes on the Uganda/Rwanda border. At the top there was all kinds of litter lying around, such as old tin cans, and in among them were lots of live ammunition rounds of varying calibre. This was in the late 90s and my guide told me that the Ugandan army had occasionally posted soldiers up there when it had all kicked off in Rwanda a couple of years earlier. I pocketed a few of the best condition bullets just for the hell of it and kept them on my desk at work. Fast forward a year or so, when I left Uganda I just threw everything into a trunk (including the bullets, without thinking), sent it to my parents’ house via DHL and I went traveling for a couple of months. When I got back to my parents’, my trunk had made it back but was entombed in tape indicating it had been opened by customs at East Midlands Airport. It was accompanied by a sternly worded letter about how on opening my trunk they had discovered and confiscated “6 (six) rounds of live ammunition, of which the importing to the UK is an offence under section whatever of the blah blah act” etc. There was also an urgent instruction to contact them on my return, and when I did, the officer I spoke to was very pleasant about it, accepted my explanation that I had simply chucked them in there without thinking, and said no further action would be taken. Despite him telling me that they now considered the case closed, I do sometimes wonder if I’m on a list somewhere along with a load of serious arms smugglers and gun runners.