From the office of Tim Nicholls, LNP Member for Clayfield
Federal commitment on Fire Ants welcomed
The Federal Government has committed to extending the fire ant eradication program. The National Fire Ant Eradication program has kept the level of infestation low and to a relatively small area.
Left uncontrolled the cost impact of fire ants in Australia is estimated to be between $5.3b and $45b over 20 to 70 years. The Federal Government’s budget commitment to eradicate fire ants has been welcomed by the Queensland Liberal National Party.
LNP Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Dale Last, said the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement on fire ants gave a strong commitment to continuing and upgrading the eradication program.
“The Federal Budget commits $1 billion to the National Landcare Program and the Deputy Prime Minister has given an undertaking to use part of this to eradicate fire ants from South-East Queensland,” Mr Last said.
“This announcement is great news for Brisbane, Ipswich, Gatton, the Lockyer Valley and beyond.
“There’s no question the program has had its ups and downs and controversies.
“But we’ve come a long way since the days when the Premier’s father and then
Agriculture Minister Henry Palaszczuk hired hundreds of unemployed people from his own electorate of Inala to walk around and poke sticks into ant nests.
“We’ve stopped using it as a disguised jobless program, and introduced latest scientific techniques to fully determine the spread of the ants.
“We now have a genuine commitment to see this through, to step up surveillance and baiting of fire ants, widely regarded as among the world’s worst invasive species because of environmental, social and economic impacts, especially to farming.”
Background
An Independent review of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program found “only a small window of opportunity left” to wipe out fire ants that have potential to be the worst invasive species to ever cross Australia’s borders.
- A review by Melbourne University recommended a $380m, 10-year program.
- The National Fire Ant Eradication program has kept the level of infestation low and to a relatively small area in SE Qld – of the 411,500 ha within the fire ant biosecurity zones in SE Qld, it’s estimated only 1% is infested.
Left uncontrolled, cost impacts of fire ants in Australia estimated between $5.3b and $45b over 20 to 70 years.
Also, from Geoff Kent, Director, Biosecurity Queensland Control Centre:-
“This year marks a crossroad for the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program. Since the original discovery of fire ants in Richlands 16 years ago, the program has managed to contain the Australian infestation to the South East Queensland corner.
A recent independent review of the program confirmed that it is technically feasible and in the national interest to eradicate fire ants. The Queensland Government is currently working with the Australian Government and other state and territory governments to secure agreement and funding for a 10 year eradication plan, and to develop appropriate governance arrangements for the proposed new program. A decision on the future of the program should be made in the near future.
In the meantime, treatment season continues with the final round of treatment due to be completed around May 2017.
Australia is the closest any country has come to eradicating fire ants. The program has successfully eradicated fire ants from the Port of Brisbane, Port Botany and twice from Gladstone. However, we still have a lot of work to do to beat this serious invasive pest. The program is working hard to prevent Australia from having the same problems as the United States where an estimated $US7 billion is spent annually managing the impacts of fire ants.
I am optimistic that we will reach agreement for continued funding for the program for the coming years, and with your help we can eradicate fire ants from South East Queensland.
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