Australia laws & rules for visitors

Most visitors must hold a visa before travelling. Applications go through ImmiAccount on the Department of Home Affairs website (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au). The Visa Finder tool there tells you which visa applies to your passport.

If you use a migration agent inside Australia, they must be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA). You can search the public register at mara.gov.au. Registered agents follow a code of conduct, and you can complain to MARA if something goes wrong.

Wherever your agent is based: never pay for a “guaranteed” visa, never hand over your passport for safekeeping, always get a written receipt and contract, and walk away from anyone who asks you to put something untrue on the application.

On arrival you complete an Incoming Passenger Card. Declare all food, plant material, wooden items, seeds, and anything made from an animal — including snacks you forgot in your bag.

Declaring something is free and usually takes a minute. If it is not allowed, you hand it over and that is the end of it.

Failing to declare can mean an on-the-spot fine, a much larger penalty, or cancellation of your visa. This is the single most common way visitors get into trouble at the border.

The threshold applies to the combined value of physical cash you are carrying, including foreign currency at its Australian dollar equivalent.

There is no limit on how much you may bring. The requirement is simply that you declare it. Failing to do so can mean the money is seized.

Traffic drives on the left and most cars are automatic. Distances between towns are long — fuel up when you can, and avoid driving at dawn, dusk or night in rural areas, when kangaroos are most active.

Seatbelts are compulsory for every occupant, including in the back. Children need an approved restraint appropriate to their age.

Holding a mobile phone while driving is illegal everywhere in Australia, including when stopped at lights.

The blood-alcohol limit is 0.05 for full licence holders and zero for learner and provisional drivers. Police run random breath tests routinely.

You can generally drive on a valid overseas licence if it is in English; otherwise carry an official translation or an International Driving Permit alongside it. The exact rules, and how long you may drive before needing a local licence, are set by each state.

The legal drinking age is 18 everywhere in Australia, and venues ask for photo ID routinely. Many parks, beaches and town centres are declared alcohol-free zones with fines for drinking there.

Some remote communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, have full alcohol restrictions. Signs make this clear on the way in.

Smoking is banned in enclosed public places, on public transport, and usually within a set distance of entrances and playgrounds.

Australia regulates vapes far more tightly than most countries, including restrictions on bringing nicotine vaping products into the country. Check the current rules before you travel rather than assuming what applies at home applies here.

Red and yellow flags mark the section of beach patrolled by surf lifesavers. Swimming between them is the single most effective safety decision you can make here.

Rip currents are the main danger and are not obvious to an untrained eye. If you are caught in one, do not swim against it — stay calm, float, raise an arm and let the lifesavers come to you.

In northern Australia, marine stingers and crocodiles make some beaches and waterways unsafe to enter at certain times of year. Obey the signs; they are not decorative.

Australia has very high ultraviolet levels, and sunburn can happen on cool or overcast days.

The long-standing advice is: slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek shade, and slide on sunglasses. Reapply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming.

Human food makes native animals ill and teaches them to approach people and roads. In many national parks, feeding wildlife carries a fine.

Keep your distance from anything large, and never get between an animal and its young. In the tropical north, assume any waterway may hold a crocodile unless a sign says otherwise.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) sets the rules. For recreational flying: keep your drone within visual line of sight, fly only in daylight, stay below 120 metres, keep at least 30 metres from other people, and fly only one drone at a time.

You must not fly over crowds — beaches, sports grounds and festivals included — and you must stay well clear of airports and any emergency operation.

National parks and many councils add their own restrictions on top, and some ban drones outright. Check before you launch.

State fire services declare Total Fire Ban days when conditions are dangerous. On those days you cannot light any open flame outdoors, including campfires and solid-fuel barbecues. Penalties are severe, and in bad conditions a single spark is genuinely catastrophic.

Check the relevant state fire service each morning in summer. Fire danger ratings are posted on roadside signs throughout rural Australia.

Littering carries fines in every state, and many places have container deposit schemes that pay you a small amount to return drink containers.

Dial 000 and ask for police, fire or ambulance. The call is free and works from mobiles without credit.

112 also works from mobile phones, and 106 is the text-based service for people who are deaf or have a speech impairment.

Ambulance cover is not free for visitors in most states. Travel insurance that covers medical transport is strongly advisable.