Traders would face one check, and phone and laptop searches
A bill is a proposed law. People who bring goods into Australia or send farm goods overseas must pass a check on their past. This bill would make that check the same under the import law and the export law. It would also give officers new ways to search computers and online accounts.
Official name: Agriculture Legislation Amendment (Biosecurity and Export Control) Bill 2026
- Anyone who needs a permit to bring in goods, or a licence to send farm goods overseas, must pass a check on their past. This bill would make that check the same under both laws.
- The check would look at court charges still going, crimes from the last 10 years, and refused or cancelled permits from the last four years.
- Traders would have to tell the farm department about some changes, such as a new criminal charge. They could be fined if they do not.
- Farm department officers looking into someone who may have broken these laws could take phones and laptops away to search them. They could also get into email and other online accounts.
- The government's notes say the bill costs the budget nothing. It has been brought into the House of Representatives, the main house of Parliament, and is waiting for debate.
Who it affects
- People who bring goods into Australia: If you need an import permit, the check on your past would ask about more things, such as charges still before a court.
- Farm goods exporters: If you need a licence or an approved site to send goods overseas, you would face the same check as importers.
- Business partners, people who run trusts, and company bosses: Say your business partner applies for a permit. Your own past, such as a crime, could count against their application.
- Traders under investigation: A warrant is a paper from a judge or court officer that allows a search. With one, officers could take your computer away for up to 30 days and get into your online accounts.
- Family and friends of a trader: Officers could look at an account you own if the trader can open it too. The government's notes do not say if you would be told.
Why it exists
Australia has two main laws for goods that cross the border. The first is the Biosecurity Act 2015.
It tries to keep pests and diseases out of the country, so they do not harm our farms, plants and animals. The second is the Export Control Act 2020. It sets the rules for sending goods overseas to sell, such as meat, grain and other food.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry runs both laws. In this article we call it the farm department.
It checks goods coming in and going out. The Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins, brought in this bill. A bill is a proposed law.
Under each law, some people need the farm department's OK before they can trade. You may need a permit to bring certain goods in.
You may need a licence to send goods out. Or you may need your farm, factory or meatworks signed off. A meatworks is a place where animals are killed and cut up for meat.
Before saying yes, the department checks that you are a "fit and proper person". That means it trusts you to follow the rules.
To decide, it looks at your past, such as crimes and unpaid debts. If you fail, you can be turned down. A permit you already hold can also be put on hold or taken away.
Right now the two laws have different lists of things to check. The bill would make the lists the same.
The government says this is part of its plan to make trade rules simpler for importers and exporters. The bill would also give officers new ways to search computers and online accounts. They would use these when they look into someone who may have broken the rules.
Charges and crimes that count
Today the check looks mostly at past crimes. Under the bill, the department would also have to look at charges that are still before a court. These are charges that have not yet been dropped or thrown out, or ended with the person found guilty or not guilty.
This covers charges under the pest and disease law and other farm laws. It also covers the two main national crime laws and the national law on goods at the border. A charge under any other Australian law counts too, if the crime is serious. That means a court could give two years or more in jail for it.
A charge also counts if the crime can bring a fine of 50 fine units or more. Laws set fines in fine units. Each fine unit is a set dollar amount. The government's notes do not give the dollar figure.
The bill spells out when a charge is over. First, the charge must be dropped or thrown out, or the person must be found not guilty, or be given their punishment.
Next, there is a set time to appeal. To appeal means to ask a higher court to look again. The charge is over once that time runs out with no appeal, or once any appeal ends.
Past crimes would only count if they happened in the last 10 years. Court orders to pay a fine would also only count for 10 years. A crime from 12 years ago would not count. The government says this means people do not have to dig up very old history.
An old law called the Quarantine Act would come off the list. It was the pest and disease law before 2015, and it is no longer in force.
The government could add other old trade laws to the list later. It would do this in detailed rules that the government writes. These rules do not need a new vote in Parliament.
Debts and money trouble
The check already asks if you owe money to the national government. The bill would spell out which debts count.
These are debts under the farm laws and the border goods law. They also include debts under the crime laws, but only where the debt is linked to a farm law. The government could list other laws too.
The check would also have to look at other money trouble. It would ask if you are bankrupt.
That means a court has found you cannot pay your debts. It would ask if, in the last five years, you ran a company that was closed down to pay its debts. It would also ask if someone else has been put in charge of your money because you cannot pay your debts.
If you are a company, the check would ask more. Has someone been put in charge of your property to pay what you owe?
Has an outside manager taken over the company because it is in money trouble? Has the company signed a deal with the people it owes, to pay back part of what it owes? Is it being closed down?
Refused and cancelled permits
The check would look at your record with both laws over the last four years. Were you turned down for an import permit or an export licence?
Was a permit or licence you held put on hold or taken away? The same goes for an approved plan. This is a plan a business writes to manage its own pest or export risks, which the department approves.
Say you managed a farm or ran a factory that the department had approved for export. If that approval was put on hold or taken away, it would count too. Things older than four years would not count. The government says recent events show more about how you act now.
Things the department may weigh
Some things the department must look at. Others it may choose to look at. The bill would add to this second list.
The department could ask if you told lies in an earlier form under the farm laws or other listed laws. It could ask if you gave false papers to an officer. It could ask if you broke other laws the government lists in its rules.
It could also look at smaller crimes, and court fines under 50 fine units, under any Australian law.
Having something on your record does not mean you fail. The department would weigh each case on its own facts. If you are turned down, you can still ask for the decision to be looked at again.
Partners, trustees and bosses
The check looks at you. It also looks at people and businesses linked to you.
The law calls them your associates. If they have a bad record, it can count against you. The bill would widen who counts and make the list the same in both laws.
Some families hold money in a trust. A trust is a way of holding money or property for someone else. The person who runs it is the trustee.
If you get money from a trust, its trustee would count as linked to you. If you are in a business partnership, the other partners would count. This includes past partners as well as current ones. So would the partnership itself.
The bill would also say who counts as a company boss. It is anyone who helps run the company, whatever their job title, even if they are not on the board. This rule about company bosses would only apply to things they do after the check rules start.
The government gives an example. Say a company keeps breaking the export rules, then shuts down. A related company then asks to do the same work. The wider list lets the department see that link.
Forms and reporting changes
The government could make a list of facts about your past that you must put on your permit or licence form. It has not made this list yet. If you leave any out, the form would be treated as if you never sent it.
Once you have a permit or licence, you would have to tell the farm department about some changes in your own life or business. Say you are charged with a crime, or you go bankrupt. You would need to tell them as soon as you reasonably can. The bill does not set a number of days.
The government would pick the exact list of changes. You would only report your own changes. You would not have to report changes for your partners or other linked people.
If you do not tell them, a court could fine you up to 60 fine units. Exporters already have this duty, and it would be updated to match. For importers, an officer could choose to give an on-the-spot fine and skip the court. The government's notes do not give the dollar amount of either fine.
A small tidy-up
Senior staff in the farm department can hand some of their powers down to junior staff. The pest and disease law lists some powers they cannot hand down. That list includes powers to use or share private facts.
But all department staff already have those powers themselves, so the list entry does nothing. The bill would take them off the list. The government says this changes nothing for traders or anyone else.
Searching computers
Officers who look into breaches of these laws can already search a place. A breach means breaking the rules. To search, officers usually need a warrant or the owner's OK. The law also lets them enter some kinds of places without a warrant.
A warrant is a paper from a judge or court officer that allows a search. Officers can use computers they find there. But the government says these powers do not work well for modern businesses that keep their records online.
Right now, officers cannot take a computer away to search it later. They can only copy files once they know the files are evidence.
Evidence means proof that can be used in a case. They may have to stay at a site for a long time, waiting for an expert. They cannot use a computer they find to look in online accounts.
The bill would let officers bring their own tools to the site. They could use machines already there. They could take things away to search them somewhere else.
They could do this in two cases. One is if searching somewhere else would be much easier, and they think the thing holds evidence. The other is if the owner agrees in writing.
A computer, phone or memory stick could be kept for up to 30 days. Anything else could be kept for up to 14 days. Officers could ask a judge or magistrate for more time.
A magistrate is a judge in a local court. Each time, they could get up to 14 more days for a computer, or up to 7 more days for other things. They could ask as many times as needed. The owner must be told about each request and can have their say.
Online accounts
Officers could use a computer or phone they find to open online accounts. The files in these accounts are kept on the internet, not on the device. This includes email, online file storage, social media and chat apps such as WhatsApp. It covers accounts the person can open, even if a friend or family member owns them.
If officers think the data is evidence, they could copy it and take the copy away. They could do this at the site or later, wherever the device is.
Officers could only use these powers with a warrant, or in the few cases where the law lets them enter without one. They would have to suspect the device or data holds evidence.
Limits on the search powers
If officers take something away, they must tell the owner when and where they will search it. The owner, or someone for them, can be there. The officer can skip this step if they believe it could put someone in danger. They can also skip it if it could harm the case.
Sometimes the data officers get into is kept at another place, such as a second office. Then they must tell the person who runs that place. They must do this as soon as they can, if it is practical.
The bill also sets cases where data the department does not need must be deleted from its devices. Any copies must be destroyed too.
Officers can use computers when they check goods for pests and disease. Sometimes that harms the data on the computer. The government may already have to pay the owner for this damage. The bill would make clear that this also covers data that gets scrambled and cannot be read.
Waiting in the House
The search powers would start the day after the bill becomes law. They would only apply to warrants given out, or sites entered, from that day.
The rules on the check would start on a day the government picks. If the government has not picked a day within one year of the bill becoming law, the rules start the day after that year ends. This gives time to update forms and train staff.
The government says it has talked to import and export businesses about the check since 2023. It held two rounds where anyone could send in comments, plus regular meetings. It also talked to other government departments.
Parliament makes national laws. It has two houses. The House of Representatives is the main house.
The Senate is the second house. A bill must pass both. Then the Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signs it and it becomes law.
The bill went into the House of Representatives on 28 October 2026. The minister gave a speech on it that day. Next, members will debate it.
Then they vote on whether they agree with its main idea. If most agree, they go through the details and take a final vote. If it passes the House, it goes to the Senate. The government's notes do not say when it might pass.
Its journey through Parliament
| 28 Oct 2026 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 28 Oct 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |