Thinking of moving to Oz.

I'm thinking of moving to Oz from Singapore as it is impossible for me to do any sort of agricultural and mariculture business in land scarce Singapore. I'll be in Townsville in around 2 months time to experience life in Oz for a few years (Doing my second degree in aquaculture).

I've a few questions though. Is it easy to set up an agricultural and mariculture business in Oz? Is land expensive? How easy is it for one to get a visa to set up an agricultural biz in Oz?

I also have a number of rare and expensive fish and plants (none are illegal), that I would really wish to bring with me in the event that I can stay. How do I bring them into Oz?

I hope that this is the right place to ask this, or if there are other forums that deal more with this sort of thing, please direct me there!

Thanks all!

ml708,

This forum is mainly dedicated to the collection and propagation of cacti. Unless some of the plants you wish to bring to Australia are cacti then this is probably not the best forum for your needs.

Actually yes! Some of the plants I'm bringing in are rare ariocarpus cultivars such as godzilla and cauliflower king. I would be really sad to part with them

The best way to go about it would be to go onto the AQUIS website and see what they have to say about importing plants. Normally the plants will have to go to an inspection facility where they will be kept under observation for a number of months.

A word of warning though, this is very expensive and if even the slightest sign of disease is detected, they may opt to either destroy all your plants or you can elect to have them shipped back to Singapore at your own expense. Sadly, AQUIS personnel can be quite unreasonable about these things.

It would be fantastic to get a new source of good genetics into this country so I hope for everyone's sake you succeed.

thanks so much for your reply! Do quarantine staff take care of plants well? I am determined to bring them in. Looking at the AQIS criteria for quarantine facilities, it does not seem too difficult to set up one.

Sorry I can't post links yet as I'm a new member but its easily found on the net.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to set up such a facility. If I could I definitely would.

They usually have their own facilities that the plants are sent to. As for looking after them, I hope they would but it is questionable sometimes. I would contact them via e-mail to inform them of your plans and seek as much information as possible before proceeding.