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The same reason they kill off mosquitoes, snakes and spiders that come in on boats. Zero tolerance is only effective if it is _zero_ tolerance. Invasive speci

The same reason they kill off mosquitoes, snakes and spiders that come in on boats. Zero tolerance is only effective if it is _zero_ tolerance. Invasive species have huge economic impacts, to the point of causing the extinction of local species, and acting as transmission vectors for disease in humans. For example, the Asian Tiger mosquito: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus#For_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus#For_humans This is as much about advertising the "zero tolerance" part, which hopefully results in less meat/fruit smuggled across the border by visitors.

nanis 6y ago
> This is as much about advertising the "zero tolerance" part Yup. All the pigeons of the world will now know not to migrate to Australia.
- jpollock 6y ago
  Humans are famous for being able to learn by example. People should learn from this that Australian border control is _serious_ about those $100k+ fines they advertise on signs in the airport, and they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals. For funsies, read up on African swine fever - it was imported into Portugal on infected airline food. Give these a read/listen: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-if-its-when-the-deadly-pig-disease-spreading-around-the-world https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-... https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia-plant-a-virus-in-cuba https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia... https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia-do-it-part-ii https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia...
  - nanis 6y ago
    > they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals. Believe you me I didn't doubt that ... I am pointing out that there is no moral argument for why it is right to kill a little intrepid bird and the practical dividends you think it will pay by being a warning sign are fantasy. This is just monstrous people being monstrous.
    - rstuart4133 6y ago
      It's possibly instructive at this point to ponder what sort of people it takes to ensure Australia & NZ are one of the very few who stopped COIVD. We had people prevented from attending their dying parents, and seen tears from mothers kept separated from children, millions of dollars in fines handed out for merely walking in the wrong place or not having a face mask. And now we are flying people out to remote mining camps to do their quarantine. But very, very few COVID deaths, and zero new local transmissions in the last few days - despite the UK strain being loose for a short while. In others areas, they took a scorched earth policy to citrus canker https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/citrus_canker/report/c02 https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen... ("the disease took 11 years to fully eradicate and resulted in the destruction of every citrus tree north of latitude 19 degrees south"), and completely shut down prawn farming in my area (sending everyone broke) in response to a white spot imported from Chinese pawns. So yeah, when it comes to quarantine we are monstrous. Pig headed and completely ruthless as well.
nanis 6y ago
> The same reason they kill off mosquitoes, snakes and spiders that come in on boats. Conveyed there by humans ... Or, do you have a system for tracking any mosquitos which the wind may have carried from other places?
- jpollock 6y ago
  They don't care how they arrive. They typically have insect traps in areas of concern (around ports/airports/etc) to track arrivals with aerial spraying when stuff arrives. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queensland-fruit-fly/ https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queenslan...
  - nanis 6y ago
    > areas of concern (around ports/airports/etc) Indicating concern over animals conveyed by humans (wittingly or unwittingly) which is a different category than animals traveling without assistance.

nanis 6y ago

> This is as much about advertising the "zero tolerance" part Yup. All the pigeons of the world will now know not to migrate to Australia.

jpollock 6y ago
Humans are famous for being able to learn by example. People should learn from this that Australian border control is _serious_ about those $100k+ fines they advertise on signs in the airport, and they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals. For funsies, read up on African swine fever - it was imported into Portugal on infected airline food. Give these a read/listen: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-if-its-when-the-deadly-pig-disease-spreading-around-the-world https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-... https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia-plant-a-virus-in-cuba https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia... https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia-do-it-part-ii https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia...
- nanis 6y ago
  > they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals. Believe you me I didn't doubt that ... I am pointing out that there is no moral argument for why it is right to kill a little intrepid bird and the practical dividends you think it will pay by being a warning sign are fantasy. This is just monstrous people being monstrous.
  - rstuart4133 6y ago
    It's possibly instructive at this point to ponder what sort of people it takes to ensure Australia & NZ are one of the very few who stopped COIVD. We had people prevented from attending their dying parents, and seen tears from mothers kept separated from children, millions of dollars in fines handed out for merely walking in the wrong place or not having a face mask. And now we are flying people out to remote mining camps to do their quarantine. But very, very few COVID deaths, and zero new local transmissions in the last few days - despite the UK strain being loose for a short while. In others areas, they took a scorched earth policy to citrus canker https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/citrus_canker/report/c02 https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen... ("the disease took 11 years to fully eradicate and resulted in the destruction of every citrus tree north of latitude 19 degrees south"), and completely shut down prawn farming in my area (sending everyone broke) in response to a white spot imported from Chinese pawns. So yeah, when it comes to quarantine we are monstrous. Pig headed and completely ruthless as well.

nanis 6y ago

> The same reason they kill off mosquitoes, snakes and spiders that come in on boats. Conveyed there by humans ... Or, do you have a system for tracking any mosquitos which the wind may have carried from other places?

jpollock 6y ago
They don't care how they arrive. They typically have insect traps in areas of concern (around ports/airports/etc) to track arrivals with aerial spraying when stuff arrives. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queensland-fruit-fly/ https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queenslan...
- nanis 6y ago
  > areas of concern (around ports/airports/etc) Indicating concern over animals conveyed by humans (wittingly or unwittingly) which is a different category than animals traveling without assistance.