There are several reactions that people can have when receiving a bunch of flowers. Calling the cops isn’t usually one of them, but that’s where Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie went when he got a floral arrangement from Facebook sent to his office from Sydney.
In an interview, Wilkie said that the flowers “immediately sparked concerns about implications for the Tasmanian environment and the likelihood of it being a serious breach of Tasmania’s tough but entirely warranted biosecurity laws.”
“My office immediately contacted Biosecurity Tasmania who were very concerned that the arrangement had not been quarantine cleared and likely contained live seeds and the possibility of serious pests and diseases.”
According to Facebook, they sent all the Tasmanian federal MPs and Senators a bunch of flowers to “to spread some festive cheer.” A classic example of good intentions, terrible execution.
The website for Tassie’s Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (aka the people in charge of what gets in and out of the state) says that they have some of the world’s toughest biosecurity requirements, so overall Zuckerberg (well, his underlings, but I like to think it was him) really did a great job of picking where to send their flowers.
People try and ship all sorts of things around the country without thinking about what will actually happen when their gift arrives.
There was that time that a South Australia tourism company decided to send a bunch of live goldfish to media organisations to promote themselves. Not only was this a terrible idea and a biosecurity nightmare, but when the fish got to their destinations they were… not… alive….
There was a similar situation when a PR company sent live butterflies to journalists. The exact same thing happened. Asia O’Hara should have learned from these people’s mistakes, but I digress.
(Credit: VH1)
And lest we forget, the most spectacular biosecurity breach in modern history: that time Johnny Depp and Amber Heard got a massive telling off from Barnaby Joyce for bringing their dogs into the country. Facebook sending flowers is amusing, but probably won’t end with Barnaby Joyce threatening to kill anything.
I live in hope that one day soon we’ll see Zuckerberg forced to film a video like this:
