Media & News

28 Jan 2024

'Fire ants here forever. Eradication never feasible.' Dr Pam Swepson, interview with Peter Gleeson 4BC Drive 23rd January 2024.

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31 Jul 2023

Fire ant program beset by delays. Kenji Sato ABC radio Brisbane 30 July 2023.

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07 Jul 2023

Biosecurity Qld wants more public money for a Fire Ant Program that has no performance data. Dr Pam Swepson's interview with ABC radio Brisbane 5th July 2023.

To keep national funding flowing into Queensland, without a scrap of performance data, Queensland Minister for Agriculture, Mark Furner, claims fire ants would be investing Canberra by now without the 22year old Fire Ant Eradication Program. Shame!

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24 Feb 2022

Fire ant program spokesperson tell MyNewsFeedLogan 'the program of suppression had worked to an extent.' Fire ant program expert Pam Swepson says 'chase after the last ant to kill it comes at the expense of tight containment.'

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11 Oct 2021

Fire Ant Fiasco. Sofie Formica 4BC radio Brisbane interviews Dr Pam Swepson. 7th October 2021

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10 Aug 2021

Minister tells 'Queensland Country Life' fire ants would be in Longreach if not for fire ant program. Program has no data. Only facts are continual spread.

Independent reviews continually report the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication program has never collected reliable and consistent performance data. It has no evidence to support any claims of success. The fact is the fire ant infestation has increased at a steady rate from 40,000ha in 2001 to 650,000ha by the end of 2019. The program...

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20 Jun 2021

Steve Austin ABC radio Brisbane, weary of National Fire Ant Program executives unavailable for interview, interview with program whistle-blower Pam Swepson 18th June 2021.

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17 Jun 2021

'More fire ant nests in Logan as calls for inquiry get louder.' Judith Kerr, Logan News

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23 May 2021

Steve Austin, ABC Radio Brisbane, said 'We've been following the fire ant debacle in this State for quite some time.' Interview with Pam Swepson 18th May 2021.

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14 Dec 2020

Yarrabilba to test DIY fire ant plan after hundreds of nests found. Judith Kerr, Quest newspapers. 3 Dec 2020

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14 Aug 2019

Biosecurity Queensland's fire ant program an 'unmitigated disaster'. Pam Swepson interview with Mark Braybrook 4BC radio Brisbane 13th August 2019.

It’s never been feasible to eradicate fire ants. They were too well entrenched. We sacrificed an opportunity to contain and suppress them to chase after the last ant to kill it. Money wasted on jobs creation programs in Queensland and throwing good bait and good money after bad by under-treating the infestation. The fire ant infestation is...

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07 Aug 2019

Biosecurity Qld manager says fire ant program 'world class.' Facts: infestation 12 times worse, waste of public money. Pam Swepson interview with Steve Austin ABC radio Brisbane 5th August 2019.

• In 2003, I made a public interest disclosure to the Crime and Misconduct Commission that the fire ant program was over-stating its success and not reporting the serious issues threatening it. They rejected my claim. Mr Dudgeon is the latest program manager to continue the practice. He told Steve Austin ABC radio Brisbane on 31 July 2019 the p...

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08 May 2019

Former govt employee Pam Swepson says fire ants out of control in Redland development areas

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23 Sep 2018

Biosecurity Queensland should have contained fire ants in 2001. Current baiting program will not work because infestation too big. QUT News

QUT News. Isla Stanich reports. A major fire ant baiting program is now underway in south-east Queensland. Dr Pam Swepson says Biosecurity Queensland should have focussed on containing the species in 2001. The Queensland government promised to eradicate fire ants to bring Commonwealth money into Queensland. The infestation is now ten ti...

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15 Jan 2018

Steve Austin ABC Brisbane. Interviews with Pam Swepson and Beth Woods

'Mornings' with Steve Austin ABC radio Brisbane Friday 1st December 2017 Interviews with Pam Swepson: former fire ant program policy officer who became a whistle-blower over the mismanagement of the fire ant program and Beth Woods, Director-General, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries which runs the fire ant program.

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13 Dec 2016

Inside story: How Ipswich became infested by killer ants - Queensland Times

Bungling by successive Queensland governments has seen the war on the red fire ant lost and hundreds of millions of dollars wasted. Dr Pam Swepson, who worked on the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program from its inception in 2002 for three years, has told the QT “the war against fire ants was lost at the beginning” and continu...

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12 Dec 2016

Fire ant interview with Steve Austin ABC612 8th December 2016

A report has estimated that if fire ants are not wiped out in Australia they could be responsible for up to 3000 anaphylactic reactions each year. An independent review, or a supposedly independent review, has warned that the window of opportunity to eradicate the red fire ant is closing. You would know that this pest was imported into Queensland i...

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25 Oct 2016

'Fire ant numbers said to be out of control' Queensland Country Life

Queensland Country Life journalist Lucy Ziesemer wrote on 21 September 2016: 'Debate flares: The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries remains adamant its fire ant eradication program is on track. Readers would be forgiven for expressing surprise and disbelief at the notion of Queensland's fire ant infestation being out of control, ...

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15 Aug 2016

Interview with Steve Austin, ABC 612, Brisbane 18 July 2016

Steve Austin: How do you feel about spending $350m to solve a problem only to see it become ten times worse. That’s what the State Government has done with public money for the Fire Ant Eradication Program. Obviously, they haven’t eradicated anything. Today, Estimates hearings commence at State Parliament: the means by which MPs examine how pub...

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11 Apr 2016

ABC Fire Ants Interview

An interview with Terri Begley from ABC Radio about fireant issues in Queensland.

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05 Apr 2016

$250 million fire ant eradication program a failure as pest spreads through south-east Queensland

The war against deadly fire ants could be lost amid claims the $250 million program to eradicate the pest has been badly mismanaged.

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05 Apr 2016

Queensland launched a war against the fire ant invasion, but 12 years later, they’re still on the march

Queensland launched a war against the fire ant invasion, but 12 years later, they’re still on the march.

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