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 network. The Bromelton State Development Area is an area of regional, state and national economic significance. Bromelton was not listed as infested in July 2016, but significant detections were made in nearby Allenview in September 2016 and Beaudesert itself in September 2017. A well-established fire ant infestation has been found in Bromelton because, even with $500m of public money so far, Biosecurity Queensland does not conduct systematic surveillance around the fire ant infestation to contain the spread of fire ants: all with the approval of the fire ant program’s national Steering Committee. The National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program is a National Disaster! Time for a Royal Commission into Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence and the Steering Committee’s irresponsibility that has wasted $500m of public money for no public good. 6th March 2019
Established in 2008, the Bromelton State Development Area is a greenfield site created in South East Queensland to locate medium and large scale, high impact and difficult-to-locate industries.
An area of 15,610ha, it is located 6km west of the township of Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim Regional Council Area and 75km south of Brisbane. Significantly, it has access to the standard gauge rail network that links Brisbane and Sydney.
To date, large scale rail freight facilities and warehouses, a gelatine manufacturing facility, a rendering facility, a regional waste transfer station, and a hard rock quarry have been established on the site.
It is an area of regional, state and national economic significance.
A well-established fire ant infestation has been found at one of the facilities at the Bromelton State Development Area. In July 2016, Bromelton and nearby Beaudesert were not inside Biosecurity Queensland’s Fire Ant Biosecurity Zones. But in September 2016 a significant detection was made at nearby Allenview and another one in Beaudesert itself in September 2017.
Fire ants now infest the Bromelton State Development Area because Biosecurity Queensland does not conduct systematic surveillance around the fire ant infestation to contain its spread: even with $500m of public money so far.
The 2010 independent scientific review of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program said Biosecurity Queensland’s surveillance methods do not work because fire ants are ALWAYS found beyond the limits of the program’s operations.
Between 2010 and 2015 Biosecurity Queensland relied on helicopter mounted cameras to detect nests by air. Over those five years, the technology found a total of 38 fire ant nests and the infestation tripled from 100,000ha to 300,000ha.
Biosecurity Queensland relies on the public to report fire ant nests: and they have. 70% of all new detections are made by the public, but their efforts are ad hoc. The public cannot conduct the systematic surveillance Biosecurity Queensland is paid to do.
Fire ants continue to spread because the Program’s Steering Committee fails to take responsibility for the program. The Committee is made up of representatives of the Australian and state and territory governments that pay for the program. The Committee approved the Work Plan for the new Ten Year Fire Ant Eradication Program (2017-27) that restricted targeted surveillance to the small area around the targeted treatment area on the western edge of the infestation and relied heavily on the public to comply with their General Biosecurity Obligation not to spread fire ants.
One result of Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence and the Steering Committee’s irresponsibility is a well-established fire ant infestation in the Bromelton State Development Area: an area of regional, state and national economic development.
The National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program is a National Disaster!
It is time for a Royal Commission into the waste of $500m of public money, so far, for no public good. Fire ants now infest Redland, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan cities and the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer Valley regional areas. Fire ants are ALWAYS found beyond Biosecurity Queensland’s operations and continue to re-infest treated area.