Six-week wait for fire ant treatment in Logan despite $411m Biosecurity funding

LOGAN residents will be forced to wait for up to six weeks for Biosecurity Queensland officers to exterminate fire ant nests in the city.

A Fire Ant nest gets treated at Munrubin.

LOGAN residents will be forced to wait for up to six weeks for Biosecurity Queensland officers to exterminate fire ant nests in the city.

Biosecurity Queensland officers set out the time frame at a Logan City Council committee meeting last week. National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication program director Geoff Kent did not know how many nests were awaiting treatment in Logan. However, he said there was a six-week wait across southeast Queensland and the number of cases was rising.

However, Biosecurity Queensland officer Louise Morgan ruled out allowing council officers to step in a kill the pests to speed up the process. “In terms of council officers, there is a process of identifying the ants by genetic analysis,” she said. “We would actually need to take the sample and make sure it is a fire ant before we go in and attempt to treat it.”

The Biosecurity Queensland officers also said the department hoped to reduce waiting times but Logan was not on a high-priority list like Scenic Rim.

Cr Jon Raven (Division 5) was told baiting was specifically for fire ant nests and experience was needed to apply a chemical treatment