Liverpool Council stopped allocating funds to mosquito management plan for two years

A southwest Sydney council failed to allocate funds to its mosquito management plan for two years. Now, locals at their wit’s end as they continue to battle a pesky insect “plague”.

A southwest Sydney council failed to allocate funds to its mosquito management plan for two years, blaming the blunder on a misunderstanding with its “financial section”.

As residents and businesses in the Liverpool local government area continue battling an explosion of the pesky insects, this masthead can reveal the local council removed budget allocations for its mosquito management plan in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

In an agenda prepared for a Wednesday night meeting, the council’s operations directorate said the “financial section” had believed an initial $30,000 in funding was “only a one-year allocation”.

“The team responsible for the delivery of the plan sourced funds from other maintenance teams to cover ongoing costs,” the directorate said in a response to questions.

“This cost had been reduced due to low numbers of mosquitoes and unfavourable season and environmental conditions.

Tanya Kaur and Michael Paps, the co-owners of U8F Gym in Chipping Norton, have been battling mosquitoes at work and home. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“This means that there were fewer target spraying occurrences on our identified breeding areas for our disease carrying mosquitoes as they were not required.”

When a specific budget for the plan was restored in 2022-23, funding was nearly halved to $18,000 before rising slightly to $20,000 last financial year.

A Liverpool resident sprays mosquito repellent in 2019. Picture: Carmela Roche

“But due to this particular bad season, further funding will be required,” the directorate’s response added.

The revelations follow weeks of what has been described as a local mosquito “plague”, which originated at an 8ha water Sydney Water recycling plant at Warwick Farm.

The site became overgrown with a weed described as an “ideal breeding ground” for mosquitoes, leaving residents at their wits end being unable to escape a “tornado of mozzies”.

Liverpool Labor councillor Betty Green will raise concerns at Wednesday’s meeting about whether the council continued to fund the initial $30,000 mosquito management, plan which was adopted in September 2019.

Liverpool councillor Betty Green. Picture: Supplied.

The multi-year plan involved an education and awareness campaign alongside the spraying of larvicides to prevent further outbreaks.

“It was a successful program and shows what council can do when it takes leadership in the interest of public health and collaborates with stakeholders,” Ms Green said.

However, due to a particularly bad season this year, further funding will be needed to manage the infestation of mosquitoes.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Labor councillor Sam Karnib will also call on the council to commit $50,000 from the council’s general funds to fund the mosquito management plan.

A mosquito at a home in Liverpool in 2019. Picture: Carmela Roche

Acting chief executive Jason Breton said the costs were “outside the current budget and long-term plan”, but recommended $50,000 be allocated annually for the management plan’s ongoing implementation.

The call for additional funding to management the mosquito numbers follows supermarket shelves were stripped bare of bug spray in the hotspots of Liverpool’s mozzie “plague”, including Coles in Chipping Norton and Wattle Grove, as well as Woolworths in Moorebank.

Warwick Farm resident Damien Lenehan was frustrated by the situation at Coles in Chipping Norton, where he was welcomed by empty shelves as he looked for insecticides.

“The mozzies are an absolute pain in the ass and you can’t buy anything at the moment to do anything about it,” he said.

“It’s a joke. Something needs to be done.”