An alliance of environment, agriculture, industry and land management groups are calling for urgent action on Australia’s fire ant outbreak. These global ‘super pests’ are spreading beyond the southern Queensland outbreak and threaten life as we know it across Australia.
D-Day for fire ants is 13 July, when Australia’s agriculture ministers will be meeting face-to-face for the first time since the COVID pandemic. Fire ants will be on the agenda.
‘Fire ants are one of the biggest environmental threats facing Australia. The prospect of Australian governments giving up on fire ant eradication is truly terrifying,’ said Invasive Species Council fire ant campaigner Reece Pianta.
‘This meeting needs to set the strategy on fire ants: we need a firm commitment to eradication and new funds. We need Minister Watt and Minister Furner to show leadership on this issue,’ said Nursery and Garden Industry Association CEO Ian Atkinson.
‘The government has been sitting on the report calling for urgent action for two years. We can’t afford any more delays – fire ants are breaking containment and will spread quickly throughout Australia if governments fail to act,’ said Canegrowers policy manager for environment and sustainability Mick Quirk.
‘A fire ant invasion across Australia will be worse than the cane toad. They can kill people and wildlife and cause billions of dollars in lost agricultural production every year,’ said Mr Pianta from the Invasive Species Council.
‘It doesn’t matter if you are in Perth or Penrith, the whole of Australia will be invaded if fire ants are not eradicated.
‘They will undermine everything, making our sporting fields, schools, beaches and backyard barbecues unsafe. They will also threaten our food security by destroying crops and livestock.
‘Fire ants are already closing businesses, parks, schools, and sports grounds in southern Queensland. They will cause billions of dollars in damage, hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits and wreak havoc on our natural environment and wildlife.
‘The cost of eradication is a tiny fraction of the cost of failure. Will this ministerial meeting be a failed opportunity, or will they be proud they saved Australia from one of the world’s worst invasive species?’ he said.
The groups specifically called for the following:
Coalition supporters: Canegrowers, Nursery and Garden Industry Queensland, Queensland Farmers Federation, AgForce, Natural Resource Management and Regions Queensland, Invasive Species Council, Qld Water and Land Carers, Sunshine Coast Environment Council, Darling Downs Environment Council, Queensland Conservation Council, Gecko Gold Coast Environment Council, Wildlife Queensland – Gold Coast & Hinterland Branch, Greenlife Industry Australia, Qld Fruit and Vegetable Growers, Wildlife Preservation Society Queensland.
A coalition of organisations has called on the state and federal government to prioritise its response to the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program Strategic Review.
The groups expressed support for option A outlined in the review.
The three options in the report for the future approach to fire ants included:
Option A: invest more now to eradicate Australia’s fire ant infestation over the next decade.
Option B: keep things as they are, an ongoing indefinite cost that will only slow the spread of fire ants.
Option C: accept fire ants spreading throughout Australia with the billions in economic costs, human health impacts and environmental destruction that will result.
State and Federal governments have had the review and its recommendations for two years and it is now critical that decisions be made to enable fire ant eradication to make up for lost time.
This issue is currently on the agenda of the Agriculture Ministers meeting to be held in Perth in July. With fire ants breaching containment at the New South Wales border and west at Toowoomba, it is essential that an urgent decision is taken to endorse in principle the approach outlined in option A.
The combined groups agree that fire ant eradication was the preferred outcome and resources were immediately needed along with reforms to the eradication program recommended in the strategic review report.
Fire ant coalition participants said they are raising their concerns directly with state and federal governments in the lead up to the July ministerial meeting.
Notes for editors about fire ants and their impacts:
Community Impacts
- At home, it will be your dog, cat, chickens or veggie garden that are at risk. Small children, people with disabilities and the elderly will also be vulnerable to fire ant attacks.
- Sporting fields, parks and school areas have all been closed as a result of fire ants – this will be a common occurrence if fire ants become prevalent and government led fire ant control efforts are discontinued.
Economic Impacts
- There will be a lot of pressure on public areas. If you don’t treat them, you put the public at risk. It will be a huge ongoing cost to councils and ratepayers.
- Fire ants would have a $2 billion per year economic impact on the Australian economy.
Environmental Impacts
- We will see population declines and our wildlife pushed closer to extinction. Any animals on the ground will be attacked by masses of highly cooperative ants: lizards, frogs, small mammals and birds.
- Fenced sanctuaries and national parks can’t be protected from fire ants. Treatment is not an option because the areas are too vast, and it’s cost prohibitive.
- Fire ants are listed as a Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act. It might seem hard to believe but fire ants will impact almost all plant and animal life.
- They reduce species abundance and diversity by displacing native ant species, preying on any arthropods unable to defend themselves and can attack and sometimes kill ground inhabiting vertebrate species such as birds, reptiles and small mammals.
Agricultural Impacts
- Red fire ants will also destroy crops and agriculture, eating the roots of plants and destroying them before they can grow. They can also kill livestock.
- We should be most worried about fire ants getting into the Murray Darling basin where their rafting capabilities will see them spread rapidly through the river system. This is a huge worry for NSW, Victoria and South Australia – for our food bowl and for all the communities who rely on that region.
- Fire ants reduce farm output by 40% – this would make some land unviable and cause some regional industries to stop operating. They are already having significant impacts on canegrowers in southern Queensland.
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