Drowning in a backlog of thousands of untreated nests, Biosecurity Queensland is now asking the public to do its own work and collect samples of potentially deadly fire ants: putting the public at unbelievable risk! Biosecurity Queensland relies on the public to report fire ant nests. And they do! They have found 80% of new nests. Biosecurity Queensland now wants the public to COLLECT FIRE ANT SAMPLES, as well! Biosecurity Queensland now sends residents who report a suspicious nest a Fire Ant Sampling Kit consisting of an information brochure, a single rubber glove, a small plastic sachet and a reply-paid envelope. The brochure warns residents of fire ant’s painful, potentially deadly stings and warns not to touch the nest. The brochure says residents can identify a potential fire ant nest by poking it with a stick to see if the ants swarm. It is inconceivable that residents, armed with a single rubber glove, could get fire ants off the end of a stick and into a tiny plastic sachet without the ants swarming up their arm and stinging them. And by asking residents to mail in a fire ant sample, Biosecurity Queensland is asking residents to breach their own Fire Ant Movement Controls which says residents cannot move a fire ant carrier without a permit, unless it is going to a waste facility. And Australia Post does not permit dangerous insects to be send by post. Surely, Biosecurity Queensland’s utter recklessness is even more reason for a Royal Commission. 7th July 2019
Biosecurity Queensland relies on a vigilant public to report fire ant nests. And they do. 80% of new detections have been made by the public.
By May this year, Biosecurity Queensland was swamped with a backlog of nearly 9000 untreated fire ants: up from just over 3000 in April: mostly because of Biosecurity Queensland’s cumbersome operations. One team goes to a property to collect an ant sample. If it’s a fire ant, weeks later, another team goes back to treat it.
Biosecurity Queensland is now dumping its own work onto the public: and putting them at serious risk of being stung. Now, when a member of the public reports a suspicious nest, Biosecurity Queensland sends them a Fire Ant Identification Resource, a Sampling Kit and a Reply-Paid envelope to send a sample of the ant to Biosecurity Queensland.
The covering letter says, in part:
“Dear Resident…..
To assist us in identifying the ant that you are reporting please:
Biosecurity Queensland’s Fire Ant Sampling Kit consists of an information brochure, a single rubber glove, a small plastic sachet and a reply-paid envelope.
The information brochure warns residents that fire ants can inflict painful stings that result in blisters and, in rare cases, death and warns residents not to touch the nest. It also shows a photo of a person’s arm with multiple blisters. The brochure says residents can identify a potential fire ant nest by poking it with a stick to see if the ants swarm aggressively. It is inconceivable that residents, armed with a single rubber glove, could get fire ants off the end of a stick and into a tiny plastic sachet without the ants swarming up their arm and stinging them.
And by asking residents to mail in a fire ant sample, Biosecurity Queensland is asking residents to breach their own Fire Ant Movement Controls. The information brochure says residents cannot move a fire ant carrier without a permit, unless it is going to a waste facility. And besides that, Australia does not permit dangerous insects to be send by post.
This unbelievable reckless from Biosecurity Queensland is surely another reason for a Royal Commission.