On 2nd Thought, It Makes Sense...

So, Hilary Swank, fresh off her Oscar win, jets off to New Zealand and promptly gets fined $163 for bringing an orange and an apple into the country. She appealed it to no avail, stating that after 20 hours on a plane, she forgot she had the offending fruit with her. At first glance, this seems really stupid, and under further review it seems like an obvious cash cow for the government when its revealed that thousands of visitors to New Zealand get nailed with fines every year for bringing fruit into the country. However, the article also states that the country has these extremely strict quarantine guidelines in effect to limit the damage from incoming insect pests. Apparently, its successful in keeping the pests from entering the country and thereby saving the country billions of dollars in damage to crops and livestock that wreak havoc in other parts of the world. So, all in all, a freaky law that actually makes sense. Considering the SARS scare from the other year that was developing into a global scare, keeping close tabs on what is let into the country makes a lot of sense...