Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

[travler37]

Originally Posted by Factor

Lets not get carried away folks, yes there are issues with ACS policy and behaviour, but I would still rather deal with the government here than in most other countries. You dont want to come to Australia, fine, matter for yourself - but lets not paint the country as a jack boot nazi environment.

Thank you,
The men of the military are great.If you get a chance to go on R&R with them is definatly on the to do again list.
That said having sailed into customs/immigrations there twice in the last 6 years would not spend my own dollars there again.If the jack boots want to remove the sails from the bags fine......put them back into said bags.{7}If you put your black gloved hand into a tupperware container of flour searching for........then you just bought it in my book.not in there's.When there dog comes on board on a rainy day and tracks mud through the whole boat,,,,,,,,
next time will spend my boat bucks on the kiwie's
my thoughts
Mark

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by travler37

Thank you,
The men of the military are great.If you get a chance to go on R&R with them is definatly on the to do again list.
That said having sailed into customs/immigrations there twice in the last 6 years would not spend my own dollars there again.If the jack boots want to remove the sails from the bags fine......put them back into said bags.{7}If you put your black gloved hand into a tupperware container of flour searching for........then you just bought it in my book.not in there's.When there dog comes on board on a rainy day and tracks mud through the whole boat,,,,,,,,
next time will spend my boat bucks on the kiwie's
my thoughts
Mark

Spent time in Cuba and yes they were formal and did a superficial search and brought in the dogs. This was mostly as our paperwork was not quite in order. Authourities (7 ministries) were loath to touch anything and tried to have crew and passengers do any "looking" for them so as not to touch anything. Carribean, never even had customs or immigration on the boat. Same for all of North Borneo including Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak.

Why would the Ozzies be giving cruisers in general a hard time?? Even the US has a money comes first policy when there is obviously no great threat from our breed.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by travler37

That said having sailed into customs/immigrations there twice in the last 6 years would not spend my own dollars there again.If the jack boots want to remove the sails from the bags fine......put them back into said bags.{7}If you put your black gloved hand into a tupperware container of flour searching for........then you just bought it in my book.not in there's.When there dog comes on board on a rainy day and tracks mud through the whole boat,,,,,,,,
next time will spend my boat bucks on the kiwie's...

Nothing unusual about having to re-pack your own bags; that's what customs world-wide do in my experience. And that includes London and LA etc. They just start up the conveyer belt and leave you to it. That's the case whether arriving by air or land so why would arrivals by sea be treated differently?

Besides, would you really want customs to re-bag your sail? I wouldn't let them.

But as far as the dogs go, then I agree the mongrels oughta wipe their feet. Kiwi dogs have much better manners.

[Nicholson58]

The Coastal Passage Home Page

The boat owners in OZ have their own problems especially with Queensland police. THere are apparently multiple policing authorities, some that operate without badges or any identifying uniforms etc. They are known to board by force in the dark from unmarked boats. Poke around this site and follow the thoughts of those who live with it. Experiences vary from wonderful to worse than you can immagine.

[Golden Wattle]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

The Coastal Passage Home Page

The boat owners in OZ have their own problems especially with Queensland police. THere are apparently multiple policing authorities, some that operate without badges or any identifying uniforms etc. They are known to board by force in the dark from unmarked boats. Poke around this site and follow the thoughts of those who live with it. Experiences vary from wonderful to worse than you can immagine.

Sigh, See post 3.

[gpshephe]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

TCP use to be a member here on CF but was pretty much asked to leave due to the bashing they gave to AU.

I find it hard to believe that AU would be as bad as they say. But from experience of drinking with them in Singapore, Sattahip, Bangkok and a few other places I know they can fly the Jolly Roger often. They are a different culture just like anywhere else, and that a Cruiser has to learn to adapt. I'm sure they would say the same about the N. Americans.

OMG, read your blog about the motor swapout in your Choate. The shaft that runs through the hull was banging inside the thru-hull tube? Was the tube loose? Man, I think I would have sunk her after all that. Reading that made me want to cry for you. Regards, Gary

[ausaviator]

The boat owners in OZ have their own problems especially with Queensland police. THere are apparently multiple policing authorities, some that operate without badges or any identifying uniforms etc. They are known to board by force in the dark from unmarked boats. Poke around this site and follow the thoughts of those who live with it. Experiences vary from wonderful to worse than you can immagine.

Australia has state Police in each state, plus the Federal Police that reside in the Nations Capital but have a small presence in all of the states; they look after airports, dignitaries and drug and trafficking related / high crime type issues. Then there are customs, just like in any other countries, similar to homeland security, the operate in boats and at airports etc. Nobody operates above the law in Australia and no authority operates without badges or identification. We also have ASIO (Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation( pseudo CIA but they wouldn't be interested in most cruisers and they would always die tidy themselves when boarding etc. Some of the claims here are fanciful at best.

[rgscpat]

Idle speculation: Could there be a difference between the regular Australian people (historically the convicts and settlers) and those in authority (in their role as the descendants of the warders)? I'm just wondering out loud if maybe a few of the Aussie customs guys have a wee bit of residual "warder" mentality left in their attitude.

[ausaviator]

I don't know how to answer that !

Any Australian Citizen can become a police officer or customs officer. There is no history associated with the profession in the manner that you has described. Convicts and wardens are long gone and the majority of the older population these days are descendants from early European settlers, myself some 6th generation Scandanavian.

[justwaiting]

Are you people serious, this is the internet where people publish paranoid ideas and are there for accepted as facts. As a non Australian i find that the "experiences" quoted here are so different to my 30 years of experience living and boating in this country. If you want to come and cruse here do so but accept the fact that there are rules here to protect security, people and the environment. If you want to be a s$%thead you will find problems. And yes there are a few (very small %) of people that work for some of these department who are power hungry or a little mad but that reflects any group in society. Dare i say it even this forum

[rgscpat]

AusAviator, of course I quite understand that the convict days are part of long-gone history and that millions of emigrants arrived after transportation had ended. But I was speculating on whether there might somehow be some sort of residual "warders versus Ned Kellys" psychological remnants in attitudes toward and by law enforcement.

Once website, in trying to assess national stereotypes and attitudes went so far as to say,
<< Australia still has its "wardens" that want to flog the country, its people and any conception of community pride. Australia also has its rebels who dislike the wardens. As neither personality wants to share a group with the other, it has been difficult for individual Australians to create cultural expressions accepted by all or feel the sense of family that is usually associated with a national identity.>> ( America vs Australia - cultural differences )

Another part of that website has a discussion of what it calls "Australia's tall-poppy syndrome". One fan of the website suggested, "It is my view that Convict history has had an impact on Australian culture even if most Australians are unaware of it." (Australian Culture and Psyche - Remembering White Slavery and Convict History | Les Nuits Masquées)

[44'cruisingcat]

Wow, there really is some rubbish on the internet.

[hummingway]

If there is more to be discussed on this subject you'll have to find a different tack. Obviously the only thing that will come from this is acrimony. This is a sailing and cruising forum; if what you wish to contribute has no direct bearing on those subjects then please keep it to yourself.

Thanks.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by hummingway

If there is more to be discussed on this subject you'll have to find a different tack. Obviously the only thing that will come from this is acrimony. This is a sailing and cruising forum; if what you wish to contribute has no direct bearing on those subjects then please keep it to yourself.

Thanks.

Good call, not least because all that convict stuff is so Sydney-centric. We in the freely settled state of South Australia, for example, are descendents of Silesians, Scandanavians and Poms (in roughly equal numbers in the early days) - and not a warden or 'wardenee' among them.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by hummingway

If there is more to be discussed on this subject you'll have to find a different tack. Obviously the only thing that will come from this is acrimony. This is a sailing and cruising forum; if what you wish to contribute has no direct bearing on those subjects then please keep it to yourself.

Thanks.

Thanks for stemming the thread drift. Back to the OP and a small piece of trivia; the Quarantine guys (AQIS) actually hold more power than the Customs guys although the mindset of Customs doesn't really accommodate this technicality. AQIS can prevent Customs from boarding a vessel until they are finished if they so wish.

Being Aussies, they usually only do this if is a Friday afternoon and they want to finish their inspection without Customs getting in the way and holding them up from getting to the bar.

FWIW.