I remember flying back from Spain one time and a young woman behind me in line to clear customs had two Spanish sausages, long ones, on top of her luggage. They were a no-no. Clearly, she did not give a fuck. Customs let her through.
“Chicken meat poses a significant biosecurity risk to Australia, particularly the risk of highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza (HPNAI) virus which can cause severe disease and mortality across Australia’s poultry industry, and may also affect wild bird populations.”
We do have a reputation for taking these things very seriously, as we should. We were even going to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs at one point but settled for the “hostage video”. Despite that, it does seem excessive in this case and should have been overturned on appeal at the very least.
Thankfully someone stepped up and ended up paying the fine on their behalf.