Fire ant quarantine zone 10km from NSW border

Fire ants are poised to cross into NSW for the first time, with the latest interstate quarantine zone within about 10km of the border.

Despite spending almost half a billion dollars trying to eradicate them, fire ants are now poised within striking distance of the NSW border.

The latest Interstate Plant Quarantine (IPQ) zone boundaries, released earlier this month, are about 10km from the border in some places and cover half of the inner Bay islands, including South Stradbroke.

The northern boundary is now pushing right up against the southern suburbs of Moreton Shire.

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National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program leaders insist they are on track to deliver a 10-year eradication plan, which is targeting the perimeter of the known infestation area, and gradually working inwards.

Residents from Logan to Brisbane’s inner west have complained in recent months about slow response times from treatment teams, with one Anstead homeowner saying it took three months and repeated calls before an inspection team came out.

But the program’s general manager, Graeme Dudgeon, said they had slashed response times from 52 to 11 working days.

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“Improved field operations have reduced the number of public fire ant reports awaiting treatment from 1829 in July, 2019, to around 600 in April (this year),’’ Mr Dudgeon said.

“The program is also cracking down on businesses and individuals who move soil, turf, pot plants, hay, mulch or other materials that may carry fire ants in breach of the Biosecurity Regulation 2016.’’

But the number of untreated nests has been much higher. Biosecurity Queensland’s own figures showed there were 8764 untreated fire ant nests across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands and the Scenic Rim on May 31 last year.

A month earlier, there were 3039, with more than 70 per cent of the untreated nests were in Logan.

A fire ant nest on Elena Maher's property.

Mr Dudgeon said IPQs helped prevent the spread of pests and diseases across state and territory borders.

“The boundary of the IPQ area for fire ants extends 5km beyond a known fire ant detection to allow for a buffer zone in case of further spread,’’ he said.

“Fire ant queens have been known to fly up to 5km from their existing colonies to start new nests.

“The size of the area fluctuates – expanding when new fire ant colonies are detected on the border and beyond, or contracting when these colonies are eradicated.

“The National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program gives reports of new fire ant nests close to the boundary, and outside of the IPQ area, top priority to prevent further spread.’’

LNP Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Tony Perrett, has voiced concerns about how the State Government was patrolling the pest and allocating resources to stop its spread.

“(Previous) revelations Biosecurity Queensland has failed to even prosecute or fine a single individual or businesses under the regulations for spreading fire ants shows the system is broken,” he said.

“The first step to restore accountability is an ­independent audit into the program to find out if mistakes are being made.”

Fire ant program whistleblower Pam Swepson said the figures were “the inevitable consequences of a fire ant program which has been broken since in the beginning”.

But Mr Dudgeon said the program prioritised reports of suspected fire ants in areas of greatest public risk such as schools, childcare centres, parks and sports fields and usually responded within 48 hours.

“Since October, 2019, nine penalty infringement notices, which carry penalties of up to $5000, have been issued by the program to people who have illegally moved fire ant carriers across the fire ant biosecurity zones,’’ he said.

“For example, a haulage company has been fined over $14,000 for a number of offences involving the movement of fire ant carriers.’’