WA Quarantine & Biosecurity Checklist
The strictest border in the country, and the zone-by-zone checklist to get through it first time.
Western Australia runs the strictest biosecurity regime in the country. If you are sending a vehicle across the Nullarbor it will be inspected, not spot-checked, inspected. Every vehicle entering WA by road stops at a checkpoint and an officer goes over it.
This is not bureaucracy for its own sake. WA remains free of a number of pests and plant diseases that are established on the eastern seaboard, and the border checkpoints are a large part of why. Officers are looking for soil, seeds and plant material, because that is how those pests travel.
Get the vehicle clean before it leaves and none of this costs you a cent. Send it with mud packed in the wheel arches and you pay for a commercial clean, pay a re-inspection fee, and lose days off your delivery window.
The short version. Clean underneath, not just the paint. A car that looks spotless in the driveway fails on the diff, the mud flaps and the underslung spare. Those are the three that catch people out, in that order.
On this page
Where the inspections happen
There are two road entry points into Western Australia, and both are staffed checkpoints.
| Checkpoint | Highway | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Eucla | Eyre Highway | Everything crossing the Nullarbor from South Australia, which is most east-coast freight |
| Kununurra | Victoria Highway | Anything coming down from the Northern Territory, including Darwin traffic |
Vehicles moving by rail into Kewdale, or by sea into Fremantle, are handled under separate arrangements rather than at a roadside checkpoint, but the cleanliness standard is the same. A dirty vehicle is a dirty vehicle regardless of how it arrived.
What officers are looking for
The category is Quarantine Risk Material. In practice that means:
- Soil and mud: by far the most common reason a vehicle is held
- Seeds and plant material: grass seeds, leaf litter, twigs, bark, sticks
- Fresh fruit and vegetables, including anything forgotten in a console or glovebox
- Honey and bee products
- Live plants, cuttings and potting mix
- Insects, egg masses and nests: mud-dauber nests in a bull bar are a real and regular find
- Used fruit and vegetable packaging, cartons and produce boxes
“Clean” means visually free of soil and plant matter, not “recently washed”. A drive-through car wash does the paint and nothing else. What matters is the undercarriage, and that generally needs a pressure washer and someone willing to get on the ground with a torch.
The zone-by-zone checklist
Work through these in order. The first zone is where the overwhelming majority of failures happen, so if you only have time for one, make it that one.
Zone 1: Undercarriage and wheels
Where vehicles actually fail
- Wheel arches, front and rear: reach right up inside, not just the visible lip
- Mud flaps, both faces of each flap
- Tyre treads, and the inner and outer rim faces
- Axles, differential housings and suspension components
- Chassis rails and any open box section
- Underslung spare tyre and its cradle: the single most common 4WD failure
- Steps, side rails and running boards
- Tow bar, hitch receiver and any trailer plug housing
Zone 2: Engine bay and front of vehicle
Where seeds and insects collect
- Radiator core and air-conditioning condenser fins
- Wiper wells and the cowl at the base of the windscreen
- Air intake, and the snorkel head if fitted
- Battery tray and its surrounds
- Firewall ledges and any horizontal surface that can hold debris
- Bull bar mounts, driving light brackets and inside hollow bar sections
Zone 3: Interior
Easy to skip, easy to fail
- Carpets and floor mats: lift them out, do not just vacuum over them
- Under the seats and along the seat rails
- Door sills and door rubbers
- Glovebox and centre console. This is where forgotten fruit lives
- Boot or tray, including under the boot floor and around the spare well
- Cargo barriers, net pockets and seat-back pockets
Zone 4: Storage, racks and gear
The accessories nobody thinks about
- Toolboxes, and the brackets they mount on
- Roof racks, roof baskets and rooftop tents
- Jerry can holders and their bases
- Water tanks and tank mounts
- Recovery gear: traction boards, snatch straps, and especially shovels
- Camping gear, awnings and ground sheets
- Fishing and gardening equipment of any kind
What happens if it fails
Nothing dramatic, but nothing free either. The vehicle is held at the checkpoint. It is then cleaned to an acceptable standard at your cost, usually at a commercial wash facility, and re-inspected by an officer before it is released. A re-inspection fee applies.
The financial hit is usually modest. The delay is the real cost. It can add days to a delivery window you have already planned a move around, and on a corridor that only departs weekly, days can become a week.
Fees and requirements change. Current inspection fees, prohibited item lists and checkpoint arrangements are published by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). Check with DPIRD directly before you travel or send a vehicle. Do not rely on this page, or any transport company’s page, as the final word.
The ones that catch people out
4WDs that have been anywhere near dirt
Beach driving, station tracks, a weekend at the river. It all packs into the chassis and the spare tyre cradle. If the vehicle has been off sealed road in the last few months, assume it needs a proper underbody wash rather than a rinse.
Caravans, campers and motorhomes
Far more surface area, far more places for material to sit. Water tanks, storage hatches, checker-plate seams, the A-frame, jockey wheel and stone shield are all inspected. Interiors are inspected too, and camping gear stored inside counts.
Boats and trailers
Trailer springs and axles hold mud extremely well. If the boat has been in fresh water, weed and plant fragments in the hull, on the trailer rollers and in the bilge are all a problem.
Machinery and implements
Anything that has worked in soil is inspected to a higher standard, not a lower one. Tracks, buckets, tynes and cavities all need to be clean. Budget real time for this.
Vehicles that have simply been parked
This is the one that surprises people. A perfectly clean car parked under a gum tree for a fortnight collects leaf litter, seed pods and bark in the cowl, the wiper wells and the roof rack channels. It never went anywhere and it can still fail.
What we handle, and what you handle
Being straight about the split, because some carriers are vague on it and it matters.
| Responsibility | Who |
|---|---|
| Presenting the vehicle clean at collection | You |
| Removing food, plants and produce from inside | You |
| Telling us the vehicle has been off-road or stored outdoors | You |
| Flagging a likely problem at collection, before it travels | Us |
| Presenting the vehicle at the checkpoint | Us |
| Managing the inspection process | Us |
| Telling you promptly if it is held | Us |
| Cleaning and re-inspection costs if it fails | You |
Our drivers will tell you at collection if something looks likely to be a problem. That is not us being difficult. It is far cheaper to deal with a dirty diff in your driveway than at Eucla.
The other state borders
WA is the strictest, but it is not the only one.
| Border | What to know |
|---|---|
| South Australia | Fruit fly restrictions are taken seriously, and the Riverland exclusion zone has its own rules. Fresh fruit and vegetables in a vehicle are the issue. Disposal bins are provided at road entry points. |
| Northern Territory | Restrictions on plant material and some produce. Less intensive than WA, but not nothing. |
| Queensland | Biosecurity zones exist for specific pests, including fire ants around South East Queensland, which affects soil and organic material movement. |
| Tasmania | Its own restrictions on fruit, vegetables and plant material, checked at the ferry terminal. |
Before we collect: the short version
If you do nothing else:
- Pressure wash the underbody, wheel arches and mud flaps
- Drop the underslung spare and clean the cradle
- Blow out the radiator, wiper wells and cowl
- Lift the mats and vacuum underneath them
- Empty the glovebox, console and boot of all food
- Clean any shovel, recovery board or camping gear travelling with the vehicle
Sending a vehicle to WA? Tell us when you request a quote and we will flag anything on your particular vehicle that tends to attract attention at the border.
Find out what your move actually costs.
Send us the route and the vehicle. We come back with a fixed price and a real departure date, held for 30 days.
Straight through to us
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+61 489 989 099 Mon–Fri, 7:00am–6:00pm AEST
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WhatsApp Same number, quickest reply
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bookings@intercityvehicletransport.com Replied to same business day
