A shopper at Bunnings in Oxley in Brisbane’s south-west was stung by fire ants last weekend when they disturbed one of fifteen fire ant nests in the DYI Warehouse car park. The shopper didn’t notice they were standing right next to a nest until the ants swarmed over their shoes. The shopper managed to brush the ants off, but got stung in the process. If a little kid had disturbed a fire ant nest like this, the consequences could have been a lot worse! Ground staff told the shopper that Biosecurity Queensland had treated the nests some time ago. But Biosecurity Queensland did not post any signs to warn shoppers of the danger, or mount any barriers to keep the public out of harm’s way. Last weekend, the fire ants were active and aggressive and Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence is putting the safety of the public at risk. Time for a Royal Commission. 18th June 2019 Update: Biosecurity Queensland makes hit and miss attempt to protect Bunning's shoppers from fire ants in the car park. In response to my blog that a shopper had been stung by fire ants in Bunning’s car park, it appears Biosecurity Queensland sent out a team to treat the fifteen nests threatening the safety of the public. They appear to have injected insecticide into some of them (not a proven fire ant treatment) and brushed away evidence of where the nests had been. But COMPLETELY MISSED more nests close by. And STILL have not posted signs to warn the public of the danger and STILL not mounted barriers to keep the public out of harm’s way. Time for a Royal Commission into Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence. 24th June 2019
A shopper at Bunnings in Oxley in Brisbane’s south-west was stung by fire ants last weekend when they disturbed one of fifteen fire ant nests in the DYI Warehouse car park.
The shopper did not notice they were standing right next to a fire ant nest when they went to the boot of their car. They did not notice the ants until they swarmed over their shoes! The shopper managed to brush the ants off: but got stung in the process.
Imagine if that had been a little kid waiting for their parent to load things into the boot of their car! The ants would have been all over them in no time at all and would have inflicted many terrible burning stings.
The shopper, like most residents of Oxley, was well aware of what fire ant nests look like. Fire ants were first detected in Brisbane’s south-west in 2001 and they continue to thrive. But fire ant nests are hard to spot, even for a trained eye. The ants create a mound of dirt over their nests in the cooler months to drawn warmth down into their nests. A fire ant nests looks like an innocent pile of dirt: until someone stumbles over it and the ants swarm to protect their nest.
The shopper reported the fifteen nests to ground staff who said Biosecurity Queensland had treated them some time ago. But Biosecurity Queensland had not put up any signs to warn shoppers of the danger or put any barriers around the nests to keep shoppers out of harm’s way. Last weekend the fire ants were active and aggressive and a threat to public safety.
Biosecurity Queensland has wasted over $500m of public money over the past 18 years chasing fire ants. An infestation of 40,000ha in 2002 now covers 500,000ha of south-east Queensland. Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence is putting the safety of the public at risk.
Time for a Royal Commission.