06 Mar 2019

Fire ants now infest Bromelton State Development Area: an area of national economic significance. Thanks Biosecurity Queensland! Time for a Royal Commission.

A well-established fire ant infestation has been found in the Bromelton State Development Area. The Bromelton State Development Area, an area of 15,610ha near Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim region of south-east Queensland, was created to locate medium and large scale, high impact industries and give them access to the Brisbane to Sydney rail netw...

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04 Mar 2019

Biosecurity Queensland can't account for hundreds of bags of fire ant bait. Still the Steering Committee approves the budget. Time for a Royal Commission

The first year of the new $411.4m Ten Year Fire Ant Eradication Program (2017-27) was a disaster! So far this year (2018-19) Biosecurity Queensland: • blew its $40m budget in just seven months, • can’t account for hundreds of bags of bait worth more $100,000. Yet, the program has enough non-operational officers and scientists, whose...

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15 Feb 2019

Biosecurity Queensland blows its $41m Fire Ant Program budget for 2018-19 in 7 months: 3 months before the end of the treatment season. Time for a Royal Commission.

The first year of Biosecurity Queensland’s new Ten Year Fire Ant Eradication Program, 2017-18, was a disaster. Only one round of bait instead of three over most of the area targeted for treatment: a waste of $38m. The second year of the Ten Year Program, 2018-19, is worse. The program has blown its budget of $41m after just seven months: three m...

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