HELP FOR SHIPPING

[A. G. Maisey]

I have collected edged weapons since 1953 and I have been importing swords, daggers and other weapons into Australia since the mid 1950's.

I have imported from UK, Holland, USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia --- and maybe a few other places that I've forgotten.

A long time ago there was no problem at all with imports of anything.

Then we went through a period of idiocy where almost anything shorter than a meter long would be classified as a dagger by the inspecting customs officer and you needed (in NSW) to get police clearance to have it released by customs, unless it actually was a dagger, which in the definition supplied in the relevant legislation comes down to pretty much only a Sykes-Fairburn --- and if you observed the relevant legislation, you could also cope with that little problem.

Import of weapons in Oz is largely dependent upon state laws, but daggers are prohibited imports under federal legislation. The state law overrides the federal law in this matter.

These days we have a very enlightened approach, which necessitates obtaining a B709B form from the police which sets forth for the inspecting customs officer the requirements that must be met by the importer in respect of the imported weapon.

This B709B is generated at a state level, so if you require a licence or permit in the state where the import takes place, you need to produce that before customs will clear the import. If, as in NSW, no licence or permit is required to own a particular weapon, the imported weapon is cleared immediately.

In my opinion this is a very good system, it avoids stand-up knock-downs with ratbag and aggressive customs officers, and the ongoing conflicts that these confrontations generate. Yeah, if you were right you always won, but it took time, effort and money. These days it is easy.

There is no charge for a B709B, you simply apply for it.

In today's world the public attitude seems to be mostly anti all types of weapon. Looked at objectively there are mostly pretty good reasons for this, so if those of us who want own weapons wish to continue to be permitted to own those weapons, we need to have a very good understanding of the relevant legislation.