Fire ants found at BHP’s Broadmeadow coal mine west of Mackay

An outbreak of fire ants have been found at a coal mine in Central Queensland.

Fire ants have been found west of Mackay.

A response team has been sent to a reported fire ant outbreak at a Central Queensland coal mine, almost 800km north of southeast Queensland’s eradication zone.

Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett said an investigation would determine how the fire ants had spread so far from southeast Queensland, and confirmed he would update the public as further information came to light.

Mr Perrett was “concerned” at fire ants discovered at BHP’s Broadmeadow coal mine 150km west of Mackay, the most northern point to which the fire ants had spread.

“Program staff are working diligently to destroy the ants in question and determine how the ants reached this location,” Mr Perrett said.

This week experts had triggered the alarm at failing containment when a new fire ant nest was discovered 100km southwest of Brisbane, which until the Moranbah discovery had been considered one of the furthest sightings from the eradication zone.

Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough said it was “speculative” how the fire ants reached the mine site, but warned every mine across the country that received materials from Queensland’s south east should be checking for the pest.

“The likelihood is that it was transported there from South East Queensland, potentially through contractors,” Mr Gough said.

But he slammed federal and state governments, with the exception of Queensland, for delaying funding agreements which could have promptly eradicated the pests.

Money was being spent on outskirts of the fire ant zone rather than within it, which was problematic considering southern Brisbane areas such as Logan had infestations “similar to what we see in Texas.”

“I’m sick to death of them (governments) being nice to us behind the scenes and then not getting it done,” he said.

“They know, and they tell us they know, but they can’t get through their bureaucratic processes to get the money out on the ground to deal with this.”

He said Mr Perrett had been proactive and visited outbreak sites as soon he was elected, and ensured the government put $24m on the table to suppress fire ants.

“The issue is Queensland can’t go it alone on this, this has to be and this is a national issue -it’s a national crisis.”

Fire ants continue to be a problem across Queensland.

The invasive species council feared the outbreak was a “wakeup” call.

Although it believed the Central Queensland outbreak could be contained, it showed the system was breaking down.

“We need to see strong enforcement action taken against the business responsible for

moving contaminated material onto this site,” he said.

“Fire ant laws are meaningless if they’re not enforced – it’s time to get serious.”

Invasive Species Council advocacy manager Reece Pianta described the Moranbah outbreak as a “wakeup call” and said every mine across the country should now be checking for fire ants, especially if they had received materials from southeast Queensland.

He described the outbreak a “spectacular failure” because of how it spread, and claimed it revealed gaps in pest management and funding to contain them.

He said the outbreak was a sign that Australia was losing its chance to contain the invasive species within southeast Queensland and eradicate them entirely.

“In the last week, we’ve had another detection in New South Wales, an interception in Western Australia and now the first outbreak in Central Queensland,” he said.

“We have no doubt that this latest outbreak will be able to be contained and eradicated at

this mine, but clearly the system is breaking down.

“We need to see strong enforcement action taken against the business responsible for

moving contaminated material onto this site.

“Fire ant laws are meaningless if they’re not enforced – it’s time to get serious.”

Mr Pianta called for an immediate funding rise of $24m to increase suppression efforts.

Without the funding it would risk a $2bn hit to the economy through environmental devastation and health risks, he said.