Biosecurity (First Point of Entry—Adelaide Airport) Determination 2019

This Determination designates Adelaide Airport as a statutory first point of entry under the Biosecurity Act 2015 for two discrete classes of import activity, and it designates particular areas within the airport as biosecurity entry points for specified goods. Mechanically, the instrument does the following.

• Declares Adelaide Airport a first point of entry for aircraft generally (s 5). That is, under this Determination Adelaide Airport is a location recognised under the Act as a place at which certain biosecurity processes and controls may apply to arriving aircraft.
• Declares Adelaide Airport a first point of entry for goods other than live horses (s 6). The Determination thus excludes live horses from the class of goods for which the airport is a first point of entry.
• Designates two specific terminal areas as biosecurity entry points for baggage: Adelaide Airport International Terminal 1 and the Cobham Aviation Terminal (s 8 and accompanying table). The instrument does not designate any area of the airport as a biosecurity entry point for aircraft (s 7, note).
• Imposes a written-notice condition on the status of the airport as a first point of entry: owners and lessees must notify the Agriculture Department in writing as soon as practicable if they become aware of changes to the business entity operating the airport or any biosecurity entry point there (s 9(2)-(3)). Persons or bodies responsible for carrying out operations at the airport must give the Agriculture Department reasonable notice in writing before making proposed operational changes of the kinds listed in s 9(5).
• The Determination is made under subsection 223(1) of the Biosecurity Act 2015 and commenced on 16 June 2019 (ss 2, 3).

The Determination is limited in geographic and functional scope. It applies only to Adelaide Airport. It makes a limited set of designations for goods (baggage only) and does not create any aircraft biosecurity entry point areas within the airport. Where the Determination is silent, the Biosecurity Act 2015 remains the primary legal source for applicable duties, prohibitions and enforcement; the instrument refers users to several sections of the Act that govern prohibited goods, conditional import permissions, and movement to biosecurity entry points (notes to ss 6, 7 and 8 referring to ss 173, 174, 238 and 147 of the Act). The Determination itself contains no penalty schedule; compliance and enforcement measures would therefore arise from the Biosecurity Act and other instruments under it.

The Determination relies on a small set of legal and operational concepts, several of which are defined by reference to the Biosecurity Act 2015. The instrument explicitly imports those definitions to avoid restating them, and it then deploys a few specific statutory designations.

• First point of entry. The instrument designates Adelaide Airport as a "first point of entry" in two separate senses: one for aircraft generally (s 5), and one for goods other than live horses (s 6). The term is used consistent with the Act's machinery governing how arrivals subject to biosecurity control must be handled at particular locations. The Determination does not itself define "first point of entry"; that definition is provided in the Act (note to s 4).
• Biosecurity entry point. The instrument designates particular areas within Adelaide Airport as "biosecurity entry points" for certain goods. For goods, the instrument creates a table linking a class of goods to named areas within the airport (s 8 and table). The Determination does not designate any area of Adelaide Airport as a biosecurity entry point for aircraft (s 7, note).
• Goods and aircraft as defined in the Act. The instrument states that "aircraft" and "goods" have the meanings given in the Act (s 4). It clarifies that "goods" includes goods subject to biosecurity control or goods in relation to which an exposed goods order is in force (s 4). This cross-reference brings within scope all Act-defined mechanisms that operate once goods or aircraft are classified as subject to biosecurity control.
• Scope limits by exception. The Determination expressly excludes live horses from the class of goods for which Adelaide Airport is a first point of entry (s 6). That is a specific carve-out that narrows the Determination's operational scope for imports involving live horses.
• Notification, proposal and change mechanics. The instrument creates conditions attached to the first point of entry designation: owners and lessees must notify the Agriculture Department in writing "as soon as practicable" after becoming aware of specified changes (s 9(2)-(3)); and persons or bodies responsible for operations must give "reasonable notice" in writing of proposed changes of the types listed in s 9(5) (s 9(4)). The categories of change that trigger the notice requirement are set out in s 9(5) and are broadly framed to include procedural and facility changes affecting biosecurity risk identification, communication and management.
• Interaction with other statutory provisions. Notes in the Determination point practitioners to related Act sections that determine other consequences. For example, the table note to s 6 points to ss 173 and 174 of the Act (prohibited goods and conditionally non-prohibited goods), s 147 is invoked in the note to s 8 (obligation to bring unloaded goods to a biosecurity entry point as soon as practicable), and s 238 is cited in the note to s 7 (requirement to bring an aircraft to a biosecurity entry point if one exists at the first point of entry).

The Determination identifies and allocates duties and procedural triggers to a limited set of actors connected to Adelaide Airport. The following categories of persons and entities are affected by the instrument as drafted.

• Airport owners. The instrument imposes a written-notice duty on "the owner (or, if there is more than one owner, an owner) of Adelaide Airport" to notify the Agriculture Department, in writing, as soon as practicable after becoming aware of changes to the business entity operating Adelaide Airport or a biosecurity entry point (s 9(2)). The phrasing means any one owner among multiple owners may discharge the notice duty, but the duty is not expressly limited to a particular nominated owner; it is triggered when an owner becomes aware of a relevant change.
• Airport lessees. Where there is a lessee, the instrument imposes an equivalent written-notice duty on "the lessee (if any) (or, if there is more than one lessee, a lessee)" to give the Agriculture Department written notice as soon as practicable after becoming aware of changes to the business entity operating Adelaide Airport or a biosecurity entry point (s 9(3)). Again, any one lessee among multiple lessees can give the notice.
• Persons or bodies "responsible for carrying out operations at Adelaide Airport". Such persons or bodies must give the Agriculture Department reasonable written notice of proposed changes falling within the list in s 9(5) (s 9(4)). The class captures operational actors who plan to change procedures, facilities or amenities, or other measures that may affect biosecurity risk identification, communication or management.
• Aircraft operators and masters. Because Adelaide Airport is designated a first point of entry for aircraft generally (s 5), aircraft operators and masters who bring aircraft to Adelaide will encounter the Act's obligations that attach to first points of entry. However, the Determination explicitly does not designate any area of Adelaide Airport as a biosecurity entry point for aircraft (s 7, note). That means the specific duty in s 238 of the Act to bring an aircraft to a biosecurity entry point at a first point of entry applies only if a biosecurity entry point for aircraft is later designated; as at this Determination none exists for aircraft at Adelaide.
• Importers and handlers of goods and baggage. Adelaide Airport is a first point of entry for goods other than live horses (s 6). For baggage specifically, two designated biosecurity entry point areas are named (s 8, table). Parties who import goods or unload goods at Adelaide Airport need to be aware which goods must be brought to a biosecurity entry point (note to s 8 referencing s 147 of the Act) and that live horses are excluded from the first point of entry designation (s 6).

The Determination creates discrete duties, and it ties those duties to procedural and spatial rules that affect how arrivals and goods are processed at Adelaide Airport. Rights are not expressly conferred by the Determination; rights under the Act will remain the primary source. The principal duties created or clarified by the instrument are the following.

Notification duties for owners and lessees

• Owners must give the Agriculture Department written notice "as soon as practicable" after becoming aware of a change to the business entity operating Adelaide Airport, or to the business entity operating a biosecurity entry point at the airport (s 9(2)). The instrument adopts the phrasing "the owner (or, if there is more than one owner, an owner)" which means any one owner among multiple owners can satisfy the duty.
• Lessees (if any) have an equivalent duty: "the lessee (or, if there is more than one lessee, a lessee)" must give the Agriculture Department written notice "as soon as practicable" after becoming aware of such a change (s 9(3)).

Notice duty for persons or bodies responsible for operations

• A person or body that is responsible for carrying out operations at Adelaide Airport must give the Agriculture Department reasonable written notice of a proposed change of the kinds listed in s 9(5) (s 9(4)). The obligation applies at the proposal stage, which means it is forward-looking: notice is required before the change is made.

List of changes triggering the proposal-notice duty (s 9(5))

• The kinds of proposed changes that must be notified are specified and broad: they include procedural changes that affect biosecurity measures, changes to facilities or amenities for biosecurity officials, changes that may affect risk identification by operators, changes affecting how biosecurity officials are informed of identified risks, and changes to procedures for managing other factors that affect biosecurity risk (s 9(5)(a)-(e)). These items collectively impose an obligation to notify where operational modifications could alter the airport's capacity to identify, communicate or manage biosecurity risks.

Spatial and handling duties through designation of biosecurity entry points

• The Determination designates two specific areas as biosecurity entry points for baggage: Adelaide Airport International Terminal 1 and Cobham Aviation Terminal (s 8 and table). The Determination does not itself restate the Act's general duty to bring unloaded goods to a biosecurity entry point "as soon as practicable", but it explicitly links to that Act duty in a table note (note to s 8 referencing s 147 of the Act). Therefore, where baggage is unloaded and is covered by the table, the Act's obligation to bring those goods to a biosecurity entry point immediately will operate in tandem with the Determination.

The Determination itself does not contain an enforcement or penalty schedule. It is a delegate-made instrument under the Biosecurity Act 2015 (s 3 states the instrument is made under subsection 223(1) of the Act), and it operates within the Act's enforcement architecture rather than adding its own sanctions. The following points follow directly from the instrument as drafted.

• No express penalties in the Determination. The text contains no offence provisions, financial penalties, infringement notices or administrative sanctioning mechanisms. The Determination imposes duties (principally notification duties in s 9) but leaves the legal consequences of non-compliance to the Biosecurity Act and its enforcement provisions.
• Enforcement and penalty mechanisms therefore derive from the Act. The Determination references multiple Act provisions (see notes to ss 6, 7 and 8, and authority in s 3). Enforcement actions, compliance notices, directions and penalties that might arise in the event of non-compliance with an obligation under this Determination would need to be grounded in provisions of the Biosecurity Act 2015 or other instruments made under it. The Determination does not itself identify which Act provisions would apply or which enforcement paths would be taken.
• Scope for administrative interaction with the Agriculture Department. The instrument requires written notices to the "Agriculture Department" (s 9(2)-(4)). Failure to provide required notices, or failure to give appropriate notice of proposed changes, will put the airport's operating entities and those responsible for operations in the position of non-compliance with a condition attached to the status of Adelaide Airport as a first point of entry. Consequences for that non-compliance would be administered under the Act and could include, depending on the Act, directions or other statutory measures available to biosecurity authorities.
• Practical enforcement considerations. Because the Determination places duties on multiple commercial actors (owners, lessees, operators), enforcement will likely involve evidence that: (a) a relevant change occurred or was proposed, and (b) the owner/lessee/operator "became aware" of the change (ss 9(2)-(4)). The temporal standards in the Determination ("as soon as practicable", "reasonable notice") are context-sensitive and fact-dependent. Any enforcement action would therefore need to assess whether notices were given within those flexible standards.
• No adjudicative processes specified in this instrument. The Determination does not spell out procedural rights such as review, objection or appeal with respect to notices or to the Department's response. Any such procedural rights would need to be located in the Biosecurity Act 2015 or in other administrative law pathways.

The Determination operates as a subordinate instrument within the Biosecurity Act 2015 statutory framework and it explicitly cross-references several Act provisions. Its interactions with other laws and legal instruments are governed by those cross-references and by the typical relationship between determinations and principal Acts.

• Made under the Biosecurity Act 2015. Section 3 of the Determination expressly states it is made under subsection 223(1) of the Biosecurity Act 2015. That signals the Determination is a statutory instrument issued by a delegate of the Director of Biosecurity and that its content must be read and applied in the context of the Act's provisions concerning first points of entry, biosecurity entry points and related duties.
• Referral to Act provisions that condition import permissions and handling rules. The Determination points to:
  • Sections 173 and 174 of the Act for matters relating to prohibited goods and conditionally non-prohibited goods (note to s 6). That cross-reference indicates that even where the Determination designates Adelaide as a first point of entry for goods, importers and operators must still comply with the Act's prohibitions and conditional admission regimes.
  • Section 147 of the Act in relation to the obligation to bring unloaded goods to a biosecurity entry point "as soon as practicable" (note to s 8). The Determination designates specific biosecurity entry point areas for baggage; the Act's obligation to move those goods to a biosecurity entry point therefore becomes applicable to baggage within those designated areas.
  • Section 238 of the Act concerning requirements to bring an aircraft to a biosecurity entry point at a first point of entry, if one exists at that first point of entry (note to s 7). The Determination states it does not designate any area of Adelaide Airport as a biosecurity entry point for aircraft, which means the s 238 duty does not apply at Adelaide while no aircraft biosecurity entry point is designated.
• Interaction with airport leases, commercial contracts and property law. The Determination imposes obligations on "owners" and "lessees" of Adelaide Airport to give written notice of changes to the business entity operating the airport or a biosecurity entry point (ss 9(2)-(3)). That requirement interacts practically with any leases, licences or contracts that govern control of airport operations, including assignment clauses, change-of-control provisions and operational service agreements. The Determination does not alter property rights but imposes an administrative notice duty that will need to be reflected in contractual risk allocation.

The Determination includes a short formal commencement and adoption record. The text provided contains no later amendment entries or revision notes. The relevant items in the instrument are as follows.

• Instrument made and dated. The Determination is signed and dated by Dean Merrilees as delegate of the Director of Biosecurity, and dated 7 June 2019 (opening formal signature block).
• Commencement. The instrument's commencement table records that "the whole of this instrument" commenced 16 June 2019. The commencement provision is s 2(1) with the table entry specifying the date (s 2 and commencement table).
• Note concerning the commencement table. The instrument includes a note stating: "This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument." That indicates the table reflects the original instrument's commencement details only (note to s 2).
• No amendments recorded in the provided text. The instrument as provided contains no further parts, variations, revocations or modification entries, and no subsequent amendment schedule is included in the text supplied. The instrument's own text does not record any later changes to the Determination.

Practical consequences for practitioners

• As drafted, the Determination stands as originally made on 16 June 2019 with no changes recorded in this text. If there have been amendments made elsewhere, those are not included in the supplied instrument and cannot be relied on from this source.
• The commencement table note signals that the instrument's published versions may carry editorial information in a third column but that such editorial material is not part of the instrument itself (s 2(2)). Practitioners should therefore treat the body of the Determination as authoritative and use the commencement table only as a formal record of the initial commencement date.

In sum, the Determination's amendment history in the provided text is limited to its original making and commencement. No textual amendments or subsequent determinations amending this instrument are recorded in the supplied material.

The supplied Determination text contains no litigation history, case references or judicial interpretations. The instrument itself names no cases and records no judicial decisions relating to its content. The following are the only points to note from the Determination as supplied.

• No cases or judicial proceedings are cited in the instrument. The Determination is a stand-alone subordinate instrument and contains only statutory references and notes.
• No appeals, reviews, or judicial challenges are documented in the instrument. There is no internal section describing disputes, review rights or past litigation.
• Any litigation that might concern this Determination would depend on the Biosecurity Act 2015, departmental action or operational consequences experienced by affected parties. Those potential disputes are not recorded or referenced in this text.

For a practitioner seeking judicial treatment of this Determination, the absence of litigation material in the instrument means a primary step is to search public case law and tribunal decisions external to this text for any instances where the Determination has been litigated or where its practical application has been contested. That search is outside the scope of the supplied instrument and therefore not recorded here.

The Determination is brief but contains several features that can cause operational confusion or legal uncertainty if they are not carefully observed. The following are concrete "watch-outs" derived from the instrument's text.

• Live horses excluded. Section 6 makes Adelaide Airport a first point of entry for goods other than live horses. This specific carve-out means importers and transport planners cannot assume the airport is a first point of entry for live horses. The Determination does not explain the mechanism for live horses, so practitioners must not treat Adelaide as automatically available for live-horse imports under this instrument.
• Aircraft designation vs biosecurity entry point for aircraft. The text declares Adelaide Airport a first point of entry for aircraft generally (s 5) but explicitly states the Determination does not designate any area of Adelaide Airport as a biosecurity entry point for aircraft (s 7, note). The consequence in plain statutory mechanics is that the particular Act duty in s 238 to bring aircraft to a biosecurity entry point at a first point of entry will not apply at Adelaide while no aircraft biosecurity entry point is designated. Misreading s 5 alone as creating an immediate aircraft-handling obligation under s 238 is a common pitfall.
• Baggage is the only class of goods with designated biosecurity entry point areas. Section 8 and its table designate specific areas only for "Baggage" and name two areas. Other goods for which Adelaide is a first point of entry are not given designated biosecurity entry points by this Determination (s 8, note 2). That produces a differential handling regime: baggage must be brought to designated biosecurity entry point areas (effectively triggering s 147 of the Act), whereas other goods unloaded at Adelaide may not be subject to the s 147 movement requirement at this airport.
• The temporal standards "as soon as practicable" and "reasonable notice" are undefined. Sections 9(2)-(4) use these qualitative temporal thresholds for notices. The Determination does not define them or fix timeframes, leaving scope for dispute about whether a notice was timely. This creates an evidential focus in any compliance interaction: when did the owner/lessee/operator "become aware" and how fast did they act.
• Who must give notice when there are multiple owners or lessees. The instrument uses phrasing such as "the owner (or, if there is more than one owner, an owner)" and similar for lessees (ss 9(2)-(3)). That language appears to allow any one owner or lessee among multiple to give notice. However, it also raises coordination questions for jointly owned airports or where multiple lessees operate different parts of an airport; failure by one owner to pass notice does not absolve other owners unless one of them has given the notice.

Compliance with this Determination requires discrete administrative steps and operational practices. The instrument’s requirements are limited but precise; the following actions are concrete translations of those statutory duties and practical measures that follow directly from the text.

1. Establish a written-notice protocol to the Agriculture Department

• Requirement source: s 9(2)-(4) requires owners, lessees and persons or bodies responsible for operations to give written notice to the Agriculture Department. Create a standing internal protocol that identifies the person or office authorised to send statutory notices and maintain a record of notices sent.
• Operational detail: keep a log of all substantive corporate changes, proposals affecting procedures, and planned facility works. When a relevant event occurs or is proposed, prepare and send a written notice to the Department "as soon as practicable" (owners/lessees) or with "reasonable notice" (operators). Because the Determination does not specify an address or format, ensure notices include clear sender details, a description of the change, timing, and contact details for follow-up.

2. Monitor and record "becoming aware"

• Requirement source: ss 9(2)-(3) trigger notice when the owner or lessee "becomes aware" of a relevant change. Implement internal reporting obligations that require immediate escalation to the nominated notice-sender when a relevant change is detected. Document when the organisation became aware, who became aware, and what steps were taken to notify the Department. This record will be important if timing is later questioned.

3. Apply a conservative approach to "reasonable notice"

• Requirement source: s 9(4) requires "reasonable notice" of proposed changes listed in s 9(5). Because "reasonable" is undefined, adopt conservative internal lead times for notifying the Department of proposed procedural or facility changes that could affect biosecurity risk identification or communication. For example, build in a minimum notice period for internal approvals and Department notification for procedural changes, subject to operational realities (the Determination does not mandate a particular period).

4. Identify and map the designated biosecurity entry point areas for baggage

• Requirement source: s 8 and table designate "Adelaide Airport International Terminal 1" and "Cobham Aviation Terminal" as biosecurity entry points for baggage. Ensure terminal operations staff, ground handlers, airlines and freight contractors are aware that baggage covered by the Determination must be brought to these areas and that the Act's s 147 obligation to bring unloaded goods to a biosecurity entry point as soon as practicable applies to baggage unloaded and intended to be processed there (see note to s 8).