Importing Indonesian Tropical Plants
to Australia.
A regulatory and logistical roadmap for Australian nurseries, wholesale growers and plant importers bringing live flora in from Indonesia. Live plants for planting are conditionally non-prohibited goods under the Biosecurity Act 2015: they can be imported, but only against a permit issued before dispatch. Bare-root nursery stock for planting is then directed to post-entry quarantine on arrival, and the import conditions BICON sets for that commodity decide what a particular consignment actually faces. For a wholesale order the permit and the quarantine placement decide whether the consignment can move at all, so they sit at the front of this guide rather than at the end.
Permit to import conditionally non-prohibited goods, Biosecurity Act 2015 s. 179(1), applied for in BICON before dispatch
DAFF post-entry quarantine guidance for most plant commodities; the exact period is set per commodity in the import conditions
First points of entry declared for air cargo include MEL, SYD, BNE, PER and ADL; this lane uses MEL and SYD. The Commonwealth quarantine facility at Mickleham sits in Victoria
HS 0602.90.00 is Free under the ABF tariff; GST applies on customs value plus transport and insurance
What the Australian importer must have in place before dispatch
1. A permit to import conditionally non-prohibited goods. Live plants for planting are conditionally non-prohibited goods under the Biosecurity Act 2015. The permit is granted by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) under section 179(1) of that Act, and applications are made throughBICON, the department's Biosecurity Import Conditions system. For a wholesale exporter this is the single fact that decides whether an order is possible: without a permit in place, the consignment cannot be dispatched, and a permit issued for one species or one origin does not cover a different line. DAFF'snursery stock import guidance sets out the permit route. Import conditions change, so confirm the current BICON conditions for the species and origin with DAFF before placing the order.
2. A confirmed post-entry quarantine placement. Bare-root nursery stock cannot be released to the buyer's nursery on arrival. It has to enter post-entry quarantine at a facility approved by DAFF and stay there until the department releases it. The Commonwealth post-entry quarantine facility at Mickleham, Victoria is one route; DAFF-approved private facilities are another, and a buyer who plans around the Commonwealth site alone is planning around one option rather than the rule. The reservation has to be confirmed before the consignment is booked, because the placement fixes the arrival date and the release date, not just the paperwork. DAFF'spost-entry quarantine guidance covers the facility and the reservation requirement.
3. A CITES import permit, if the line is a listed taxon. Under Part 13A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Australia applies stricter domestic measures than baseline CITES. Artificially propagated Appendix II material, orchids and cycads among it, needs an Australian CITES import permit from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) in addition to the Indonesian CITES export permit. Both documents must exist before the consignment is shipped. Foliaria supplies the Indonesian export permit for artificially propagated stock.
4. Proof of origin, if a preferential rate is claimed. The Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) provides preferential tariff treatment against a Certificate of Origin (COO Form IA-CEPA) issued by Indonesia's Ministry of Trade (IPSKA), or an approved exporter declaration. On this commodity the preference produces no additional saving, because the MFN rate for HS 0602.90.00 is already Free; the Free rate applies with or without the certificate. The origin paperwork matters for compliance, not for the duty line.
5. The importer of record. The buyer is the importer of record and holds the DAFF permit, the quarantine placement and any CITES permit. Foliaria supplies the Barantan phytosanitary certificate, the commercial invoice and the packing manifest, and confirms the species against BICON before quoting a line.
The clearance sequence, order by order
Each step gates the next one. The permit and the quarantine reservation are both pre-dispatch items, which is why an Australian order is planned backwards from the arrival slot.
Before ordering — BICON and Live Import List check
The species and the Indonesian origin are entered in BICON. The system returns the import conditions for that combination, which is the document that governs the consignment. In parallel the species is checked against the Live Import List maintained by DCCEEW under section 303EB of the EPBC Act; a species that is not on that list cannot be imported, whatever BICON says about its pathogens.
Before dispatch — DAFF import permit through BICON
The permit application is lodged in BICON against the species, the origin and the intended use. DAFF's BICON permit guidance gives a standard assessment target of 20 to 40 working days, so the application is the long pole in the schedule and is started before a shipping date is agreed. The permit conditions carry the additional declarations and any pre-export treatment that the phytosanitary certificate has to reflect.
Before dispatch — confirmed post-entry quarantine reservation
A reservation is confirmed at a DAFF-approved post-entry quarantine facility, at Mickleham or at a private approved site. The reservation is a scheduling prerequisite rather than a formality: the plants cannot be dispatched into a facility that has no space for them, and the reservation date sets the arrival date and the release date. A buyer who books freight before the reservation is confirmed is booking against a date the facility has not agreed to.
Before dispatch — Barantan inspection and phytosanitary certificate
The consignment is inspected by Badan Karantina Indonesia (Barantan) at the regional station, and the official IPPC phytosanitary certificate is issued against that inspection. Australia requires the certificate and its declarations in English, or with a certified English translation. The botanical names on the certificate must match the permit schedule, and where the issuing station supports it the certificate travels through the IPPC ePhyto Hub.
Before arrival — Notice of Importation
The importer lodges DAFF's import notification through BICON before the consignment is due to arrive, so the department can schedule the documentary check and the inspection at the first point of entry. The notice period is set by DAFF and can change, so confirm the current period with DAFF before booking freight.
On arrival — inspection, customs, transfer under biosecurity control
The consignment lands at a designated first point of entry, Melbourne or Sydney for this lane. DAFF runs the documentary check and the inspection. Customs runs in parallel rather than after it: the importer or broker lodges a Full Import Declaration with the Australian Border Force, required above a value of AUD $1,000, and pays the 10% GST. The plants then move to the approved quarantine facility under biosecurity control, and are released only when the quarantine period set for the commodity has been completed.
Taxa Foliaria does not ship into Australia
A page that only lists what can be shipped is marketing. These are the categories that are closed, restricted, or conditional — check them before you build a range around a species.
Growing media — prohibited. Soil, organic growing media and compost cannot travel with a plant consignment. Every Foliaria consignment is bare-root and packed without soil or growing medium, and the permitted packing material is the one set out in the import conditions for that commodity, confirmed there before dispatch.
Species absent from the Live Import List — closed. A species may only be imported live if it appears on the Live Import List maintained by DCCEEW under section 303EB of the EPBC Act. Unlisted species are prohibited outright, and no phytosanitary certificate changes that.
High-risk agricultural hosts — restricted. Citrus, Prunus, Vitis and Malus are subject to strict pathogen testing programmes or closed quarantine regimes. They are not ordinary nursery stock lines, and admissibility is confirmed per cultivar rather than per family.
Invasive ornamental candidates — restricted. Species flagged as invasive ornamentals are prohibited or must pass a Weed Risk Assessment before they can be considered for a permit. The assessment runs before permit eligibility, so a species that fails it never reaches the permit stage.
Xylella hosts — heightened controls. Where a taxon is susceptible to Xylella fastidiosa, DAFF emergency measures apply heightened diagnostic and quarantine controls to consignments from source countries that are not certified for the pathogen. This is one more reason the BICON result for the exact species and origin is the operative answer, not a general list.
How this is handled in practice. The export desk checks the line against BICON and the Live Import List before the invoice is issued, and says plainly when a cultivar cannot be shipped to Australia. If a variety is restricted, the alternative is a documented substitute agreed with the importer — never a silent one.
CITES: two permits, not one
Australia implements CITES through Part 13A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and it applies stricter domestic measures than the baseline convention. For artificially propagated Appendix II plants, the practical consequence is a second permit: the Indonesian CITES export permit issued for the consignment, and an Australian CITES import permit issued by DCCEEW. Commercial trade in wild-collected Appendix I specimens is prohibited, while artificially propagated Appendix I material is traded under Appendix II rules. Either way, an Australian CITES import permit is required in addition to the Indonesian export permit.
The Australian permit is applied for through DCCEEW's commercial wildlife import programme and must be in hand before the plants are shipped. Orchids and cycads are the lines where this most often bites on a tropical order, because a mixed consignment can be mostly non-listed aroids and still need the CITES paperwork for a single orchid line. Foliaria identifies listed taxa at quotation stage so the permit application is not discovered after the invoice.
What the landed cost actually contains
Air freight from East Java to Melbourne or Sydney is a 4 to 6 day carrier estimate, before the consignment enters quarantine. The figure covers the flight and arrival only; the quarantine period for the commodity runs after it, and the release date is the date the facility gives, not the date the aircraft lands.
Duty is not the cost to plan for. HS 0602.90.00 is Free (0%) in Schedule 3, Section II, Chapter 6 of theAustralian Border Force tariff. The charge that matters is GST, and the ABF collects it at the border: 10% on the Value of the Taxable Importation, which is the customs value plus international transport and insurance. Because duty on this line is Free, nothing is added to that base for duty, but freight and insurance are already inside it. Ten percent of the invoice is not the same number, and on a wholesale consignment the difference is real money.
Registered businesses can claim input tax credits on that GST, or use the ATO Deferred GST Scheme, so the cash-flow question is separate from the cost question. The importer of record handles the declaration and the GST.
Australian Import Questions, Answered
Do I need an import permit to import plants from Indonesia to Australia?↓
Can the plants go straight to my nursery after they land?↓
How long is post-entry quarantine?↓
How do I check whether a species is importable before ordering?↓
Do CITES-listed plants need an Australian permit as well?↓
What duty and GST apply to a plant consignment?↓
How long does the shipment itself take?↓
Ready to Import into Australia?
Review our wholesale export catalog of Indonesian tropical houseplants and rare aroids. We check the species against BICON and the Live Import List before an invoice is issued, and we quote the CITES position per line. Minimum wholesale consignment is 20 plants.