Red imported fire ants are a threat to Queensland because they can damage the environment, threaten industry profitability, and negatively impact Queenslanders’ health and lifestyle.
Red imported fire ants are a threat to Queensland because they can damage the environment, threaten industry profitability, and negatively impact Queenslanders’ health and lifestyle.
Fire ants were first detected in Queensland in February 2001 and since then efforts to stop their spread have seen mixed results. The National Fire Ant Eradication Program works to contain and destroy the ants, but the infestation area continues to expand outwards and now ecompasses most of South East Queensland.
If they’re not stopped, fire ants could potentially live in most of Queensland’s coastal areas and tropical north. The Queensland Government has costed the impacts of RIFA in Australia at $43 billion over 30 years.
Horticulture producers are considered as high risk potential spreaders of fire ants. The have been instances of fire ants spreading by ‘hitchhiking’ in shipments of soil and growing media such as potted plants, landscape material, construction backfill and turf, among other things.
We acknowledge that the fire ants issue is serious. We fully commit to taking any practical steps which help contain and eradicate fire ants from our state.
We applaud the 2023-27 National Fire Ant response strategy and associated funding and we call on all state and federal governments to continue to cooperate and co-fund national solutions to fire ant spread. A 2021 report estimated that an annual investment of between $300M and $500M over 10 years would be required to eradicate fire ants by 2032.
We call for a significantly increased effort by the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, as the lead partner in eradicating the ants, including more government resources to detect and destroy nests.
We expect the Department of Primary Industries to improve response times when suspected fire ants are reported. Exterminations should happen within a few days, at most, after initial notification.
We urge the Department of Primary Industries to prioritise direct nest injection with fipronil around nursery sites, as opposed to baiting with pyriproxyfen or S-methoprene which growers believe is less effective.
We support the possibility of legal action against property owners who refuse to comply with mandatory treatment for fire ants.
We call on the Department of Primary Industries provide growers with financial assistance to subsidise labour and chemical costs, in cases where they are required to preventatively treat plants and/or media against fire ants. We support investigating price caps on bifenthrin, or government rebates for growers in declared fire ant zones.
We want an end to mandatory spraying or soaking as a means of preventing fire ant infestations. Growers who have never experienced fire ants on their properties should be trusted to conduct regular visual inspections of their site, instead of being asked to pay for expensive chemicals and additional labour. This is especially the case in “hot spot” zones where there is no widespread infestation.
We call on the Australian Government to cut the red tape when it comes to complying with different state regimes. Queensland growers are subject to multiple inspections, multiple application processes and multiple fees to move their products across state borders. Fire ants are a national problem, and the solutions must be nationally harmonised.
