Writings: Biosecurity Queensland puts public safety at risk. No warning sign on large untreated fire ant nest on footpath in Oxley - the infestation's ground zero. Time for a Royal Commission.

 Biosecurity Queensland has put no warning sign on a large, well-established and untreated fire ant nest on the footpath on Oxley Road, opposite the golf driving range.  The nest looks like an innocent pile of dirt. But it will erupt with dozens of aggressive fire ants that will swarm and sting any unwary passer-by that accidentally bumps it.

In an interview on ABC radio Brisbane on 23^rd July 2018, then General Manager of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, John Jordan, said the program was phasing out the use of warning signs on fire ant nests in public places, like parks and footpaths, and only using them on construction sites to warn workers. He said this was because kids were playing with them and they attracted people to the nest to see what it was. Only a problem because Biosecurity Queensland takes weeks to treat known fire ant nests, like the one on Oxley Road.

Oxley Road is in the suburb of Oxley, in Brisbane’s south-west. It is part of Ground Zero of the largest of two fire ant infestations found in Brisbane in 2001. Over the past 18 years, Biosecurity Queensland has treated the suburb numerous times, with numerous tonnes of bait and numerous litres of insecticide. Fire ants continue to flourish in Oxley and spread into the rest of south-east Queensland. Biosecurity Queensland has wasted $500m of public money.

It’s time for a Royal Commission.