Visiting Maserati owners caught up in asbestos crackdown

Australian Border Force officers have nabbed a number of visiting Maseratis.

Up to nine Maserati owners, who have travelled from around the world to attend this week’s Maserati Global Gathering 1400km club run, have been sidelined by Australian customs which has impounded the vehicles.

The classic Maseratis which date from 1964 and include a 3500 GT previously owned by Joe Walsh of The Eagles, docked in Melbourne last week where they were selected at random for invasive asbestos testing, a process which can cost the owner up to $30,000 and includes drilling core components including the firewall to test for presence of the substance.

While most of the visiting Maserati vehicles managed to dodge the customs process, one entire shipment of eight vehicles from the UK has been held meaning overseas visitors who have paid up to $4000 to attend the drive event to pilot exclusive classics from Apollo Bay to Sydney are now sharing cars or driving modern equivalents.

The owner of the impounded group is a Brisbane businessman who had shipped the vehicles to Australia to support the inaugural drive event.

Organisers had sought exemption for the vehicles back in September, arguing that they were here for a single visit and would be exported via Sydney at the end of the trip. It’s claimed they received no response from the relevant department until two weeks prior to the event, at which time the cars were already en route.

Despite being accompanied with supporting paperwork, exemption was not granted and the cars were instead earmarked for testing. The owner has declined the process which would take weeks and thousands of dollars per vehicle and plans to ship them back out of Melbourne.

Australian Border Force instigated random asbestos testing of imported classic vehicles last year but the expensive and invasive procedure is likely to deter some collectors from bringing overseas vehicles into Australia in the future.

Owners have the option to find an overseas authority to carry out testing prior to importing cars but the process can be costly and damaging to vehicles and needs to be undertaken by a body which is approved by Australia.

The Maserati Owner’s Club believes that the restrictive measures will impact on other car clubs looking to host similar events in Australia. The exclusive runs, which are popular around the world can attract hundreds of participants and generate valuable tourism dollars.

Maserati club runs in mainland Europe, where vehicles cross country borders with no intervention, can pull in 100 cars, booking out hotels and showcasing new regions to the participants.

The Maserati Global Gathering is taking place this week with the tour travelling from Torquay to Bendigo in Victoria today (Thursday, March 22). The group will pass through Milawa, Albury, Cooma and Canberra before concluding its run at the Sydney Opera House on March 26.

Update, March 23, 2018: Australian Border Force has responded to this story, and the statement issued is reproduced below, in full:

The ABF did not conduct asbestos testing on any of the vehicles and there was no damage to any of the vehicles. Two of the vehicles did not have the required import approval from the Australian Government and were therefore held at the border. It is the responsibility of the importer to ensure that Vehicle Import Approval is in place prior to importing cars to Australia.

The other six vehicles were identified as potentially containing asbestos and the importer could not provide appropriate assurances that they did not. The importer declined to have the vehicles tested for asbestos. The importer was given permission to export the vehicles.

The ABF is not responsible for granting permission to import goods containing asbestos. This can only be done by applying to the Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation.

The ABF recommends all classic car importers ensure their vehicles don’t contain asbestos before they arrive in Australia. Any suspect parts should be removed before transport to Australia to minimise costs, delays and impacts on vehicles.

The removal and testing of any components is undertaken by qualified independent hygienists not ABF officers. Testing can be avoided if importers provide sufficient assurance to demonstrate that imported goods do not contain asbestos or that suspect parts have been removed before import.

Australia’s ban on asbestos is not new and the significant health risks of asbestos are well known. We don’t want to unduly penalise classic car importers, but asbestos can kill and we have an obligation to protect the community from any asbestos coming into the country.