In the first year of Biosecurity Queensland’s new $411.4m Ten-Year Fire Ant Eradication Program, (on top of the $400m 2002-2017 program), fire ants breached Biosecurity Queensland’s operations seven more times: into Bridgeman Downs in Brisbane’s north, into the Beaudesert area south-west of Brisbane, into the Lowood area north-west of Brisbane and four more breaches west into the Lockyer Valley: south-east Queensland’s food bowl. The independent review in 2009 said the main reason the program was failing was because Biosecurity Queensland could not detect incursions. The 2013 review said the program was failing because there are always fire ants outside Biosecurity Queensland’s operational area. Seven more infestations beyond the program’s operational zone is more evidence Biosecurity Queensland can’t find fire ants, more evidence Biosecurity Queensland’s treatment does not work. And in each case, Biosecurity Queensland did not impose controls on the movement of fire ant carriers in or out of those areas: more evidence Biosecurity Queensland has abrogated its responsibility to stop the spread of fire ants. Nevertheless, the Program’s Steering Committee reported to the National Biosecurity Committee that it ‘was confident in the handling of the outlier and significant detections.’ The Steering Committee is responsible for the program’s operations, budget and performance and needs to be held to account. It is time for a Royal Commission. Details of the seven infestations beyond the program's operational area are in the adjacent column. 25th March 2019.
Biosecurity Queensland’s new $411.4m Ten Year Fire Ant Eradication Program, (on top of a the $400m program from 2001 to 2017) started on 1st July 2017. During its first year (2017-18) seven significant infestations were found beyond the program’s operations and beyond Fire Ant Biosecurity Zones where controls on the movement of fire ant carriers like soil and mulch apply. Fire ants have now spread further north into Bridgeman Downs in Brisbane’s north, into the Lowood area north-west of Brisbane, into the Beaudesert area south-west of Brisbane and another four major breaches west into south-east Queensland’s food bowl in the Lockyer Valley.
Fire ant breaching Biosecurity Queensland’s operations is nothing new.
The 2009 independent scientific review said ‘the primary cause of the program’s failure to eradicate is the inability to effectively detect incursions’ and ‘the efficacy of current treatment methods is questionable given that infestation are recurring…and the review concluded that (fire ants) cannot be eradicated from Brisbane using current techniques.’
In 2013, Biosecurity Queensland commissioned Monash University to conduct a study to determine if the program was on-track to eradicate fire ants. The review found ‘an opportunity for eradication seems to have been narrowly missed (because) the eradication program never fully delimited the invasion. There was always an infested area outside the searched and treated areas. Immature nests (those not yet capable of founding new nests) outnumbered mature nests at almost every stage of the invasion….. (Consequently), the southern and western boundaries of the invasion advanced at a steady rate….south towards the Gold Coast and Scenic Rim and west into the Lockyer Valley.
The program’s Steering Committee is required to report significant breaches of the program’s operations to the National Biosecurity Committee which advises the Australian Agriculture Ministers’ Forum. Breaches could mean eradication is no longer feasible and could decrease community and cost-share partner confidence in the program.
The Steering Committee, which is responsible for the program operations, budget and performance, reported that ‘each infestation has been destroyed’ with no evidence to support that claim and said it ‘was confident in the handling of the outlier and significant detections, including the implications these have for the operational boundary.’
The Steering Committee needs to be held accountable for the seven more breaches of the program’s operations because they are more evidence that:
It is time for a Royal Commission into Biosecurity Queensland’s management of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program and the Steering Committee’s governance.
Details of the seven more significant infestations are as follows:
The first year of the new 2017-27 $411.4m Ten Year Fire Ant Eradication Program started on 1st July 2017.
By 3rd August 2017, a well-established fire ant infestation was found in a new housing estate in the small town of Lowood in the Somerset Regional Area. Just 61km west of Brisbane and 31km north of Ipswich, it is popular with residential commuters, hobby farmers and nearby Lake Wivenhoe attracts city visitors for boating and fishing.
A well-established infestation of nine nests, the largest 100cm long, 60cm wide and 20cm high, threaten the safety of residents in the new housing estate and potentially threaten the safety visitors to the Wivenhoe Dam.
The infestation was 5.1km outside Biosecurity Queensland’s operational boundary and 6.3km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone where controls on the movement of fire ant carriers like soil and mulch apply. And it was 10.5km from an infestation found in Marburg in March 2017, 10.5km form one found in Kensington Grove in March 2017 and 11.5km from an infestation found in Haigslea in June 2017.
Biosecurity Queensland determined the ants were part of the original infestation detected in 2001 in Brisbane’s south-west: centred on Amberley and Swanbank: evidence that Biosecurity Queensland’s treatment program does not work.
With 10km being the upper-limit fire ants can fly, it is most likely fire ants came onto the housing estate site in loads of soil and mulch and onto the footpaths in loads of turf. Biosecurity Queensland could not determine, for sure, that the fire ants had arrived in trucks because the developer had gone into liquidation and Biosecurity Queensland could not contact them. And Biosecurity Queensland did not know where the turf had come from.
So, Biosecurity Queensland did not extend the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone to include Lowood and did not impose any control on the movement of fire ant carriers in or out of Lowood. Evidence that Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.
By the 25th September 2017, another well-established infestation was found in Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim Regional Area. Beaudesert, a medium sized country town 91km south of Brisbane, is a hub for surrounding communities. It supports local cropping and grazing industries and the 15,000ha Bromelton State Development Area: an area of national economic development, 6km west.
A well-established infestation of five mounds (the largest was 100cm long, 40cm wide and 5cm high) was found in the grounds of a new school and on a vacant block in a new development site. Not only do they threaten the safety of the school children and residents who will live there: fire ants threaten the economy of the Beaudesert area.
The infestation was 6.1km outside Biosecurity Queensland’s operational area and 7km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone, 14.7km from an infestation found in Tambourine earlier in Sept 2017, 12.2km from an infestation found in Allenview in Sept 2016 and 11km from an infestation found in Woodhill in January 2016.
Biosecurity Queensland identified the infestation as likely being related to the Rochedale infestation: 50km north in Brisbane: evidence that Biosecurity Queensland’s treatment program does not work.
With 10km being the upper limit fire ants can fire, it is likely fire ants arrived on-site in the many truck-loads of road base, fill, topsoil, mulch, turf, sand, gravels, potted plants, deco and soil blends that six suppliers had sourced from seven different sites, both inside and outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone.
But because Biosecurity Queensland found that all suppliers had either complied with Biosecurity Regulation 2016 or had a biosecurity permit to move fire ant carriers or they could not contact them, Biosecurity Queensland did not impose any controls on the movement of fire ant carriers in and out of the site: even though they knew three suppliers had been infested in the past. Biosecurity Queensland did nothing more than promise to monitor the site and to encourage suppliers to comply with their General Biosecurity Obligation: more evidence Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.
By 9 January 2018, fire ants were found in Bridgeman Downs, a suburb 13km north-west of Brisbane’s CBD. Long associated with large acreage properties, most of Bridgeman Downs is now residential supporting a relatively young population.
A nest 30cm long, 30cm wide and 5cm high, found on the edge of a sports field undergoing an upgrade, threatens the safety of Bridgeman Down’s young, active residents.
The infestation was 1.4km from Biosecurity Queensland’s operational boundary, 14.1km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone that covers Brisbane city and 8.5km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone that covers the Brisbane Airport and the Port of Brisbane. It was 6.1km from the infestation found in Bracken Ridge in September 2016, 9.9km from the infestation found in Upper Kedron in May 2017 and 3.9km from the infestation found in Fitzgibbon in August 2017.
Biosecurity Queensland found the infestation was related to those found in Bracken Ridge in 2016 and the one found in Fitzgibbon in 2017: evidence that Biosecurity Queensland’s treatments do not work.
It is possible fire ants flew onto the site, but more likely they arrived in the loads of turf that came onto the site in June 2016 and December 2017 and the loads of sand that came onto the sites in 2016 and 2017: all from outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone. Despite the fact that a number of sites surrounding the new infestation had received turf from a high-risk business, Biosecurity Queensland imposed no controls on the movement of fire ant carriers in or out of this area: evidence that Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.
By 4th and 29th April 2018, two high-risk and well-established fire ant infestations were found in Thornton in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, and the food bowl of south-east Queensland. It supports cropping and grazing industries and a $160m a year fruit and vegetable industry that supplies 40% of south-east Queensland’s fresh fruit and vegetables.
On 4th April , seven nests, the largest 90cm long, 70cm wide and 10cm high, were found in a fallow field previously cultivate for the production of lucerne hay: threatening the economy of the Lockyer Valley. Field staff found another five nests on 29th April while surveying the area around the first seven.
The infestation was 1.1km outside Biosecurity Queensland’s operational area and 1km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone. It was 1.45km to the north-east of another infestation recently found in Thornton, 6.1km from the infestation found at Mount Mort in May 2014, and 11.6km from the infestation found in Rosevale in September 2016.
Biosecurity Queensland was not able to survey or treat the whole infestation because it was under a mature crop. Biosecurity Queensland found the infestation was related to the infestation at Lower Mount Walker: more evidence that Biosecurity Queensland treatment program does not work.
Biosecurity Queensland found that forty round bales of hay produced on the site had been sold to a property at Gowrie Little Plain 27km north-west of Toowoomba on the Darling Downs (a major agricultural region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range) and multiple smaller consignments of hay had been sold from a roadside stall and the farmer had no records of the destinations of that hay.
Biosecurity Queensland noted the significance of this detection was high because of the risk of spread but did not impose any controls on the movement of fire ant carriers on or off the farm because:
Just more evidence that Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.
Also by 5th April 2018, another high risk fire ant infestation was found in Blenheim, just to the north of Thornton, in the Lockyer Valley.
A nest 40cm long, 30cm wide and 15cm high was found in on the edge of a house yard between a vegetable garden and a paddock that is regularly cultivated: threatening the safety of the residents and neighbouring farmland.
It was 0.37km from the operational boundary, but inside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone: raising questions about the effectiveness of the Biosecurity Zone. But it was close to two other infestations recently found in Blenheim: one 1.7km to the west found in 2018 and another one found 5.km to the north found in 2017. Biosecurity Queensland was concerned that there could be more infestations between this one and infestations in Thornton further south. More evidence that BQ treatment does not work.
However, because Biosecurity Queensland found that no fire ant carriers had come onto or off the property from outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone, in the last 12 months, but did not investigate movements prior to that, Biosecurity Queensland did not impose any controls on the movement of fire ant carriers in or out of the area: more evidence that Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.
Then on 11th May 2018 another high-risk infestation was found in Thornton in the Lockyer Valley.
This nest was also found in another fallow farm paddock: threatening the productivity of the farm and the livelihood of the farmers.
This infestation was 2.36km outside Biosecurity Queensland’s operational area and 2.93km outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone, 1.45km from the detection found in Thornton in April, 12.06km from the infestation found in Rosevale in 2016 and 7.35km from the infestation found in Mount Mort in June 2014. This detection was pushing the fire ant zone even further west into the Lockyer Valley.
Biosecurity Queensland found that approximately 100 cubic metres of gravel had been brought onto the property in October 2017 from outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone and sand had been brought onto the property, also from outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone in January 2018 to construct a driveway.
Biosecurity Queensland imposed no controls on the movement of fire ant carriers on or off the site because the supplier had a biosecurity instrument permit to move such material from outside the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone: raising questions about the effectiveness of the Fire Ant Biosecurity Zones and Biosecurity Queensland’s permits and the compliance checks: more evidence that Biosecurity Queensland is failing in its General Biosecurity Obligation to stop the spread of fire ants.