As Chair of the Fire Ant Program Scientific Advisory Panel in 2001, Dr Wylie knows that local and USA expert said the fire ant infestation in south-east Queensland was too entrenched to eradicate and said an aggressive containment and suppression program was the best and cheapest option. Dr Wylie knows that then Minister for Primary Industries, Henry Palaszczuk, rejected that advice to mount the folly of an eradication program because he knew the Commonwealth would fund an eradication program but not a containment program. Dr Wylie knows there is no incentive for the Queensland government to eradicate fire ants because the eradication program has pumped $450m of external money into Queensland Treasury so far and create thousands of jobs in Queensland. Dr Wylie knows that independent scientific reviews have repeatedly said the eradication program is not working. Dr Wylie has repeatedly told the public the program has eradicated five fire ant infestation and contained the spread, knowing the program has no data to support those claims. But in July 2019, Dr Wylie back-flipped. In a Department of Agriculture and Fisheries podcast he said 'Even if we didn't or couldn't eradicate it' knowing there is no scientific evidence that it was possible to eradicate well entrenched infestations from south east Queensland, the program 'is still good value for money' because it is an aggressive containment program. Dr Wylie knows the extent of the fire ant infestation would likely be a fraction of the 500,000ha it is now, closer to the 40,000ha it was in 2002, if an aggressive containment and suppression program had been implemented in 2001. Dr Wylie knows the cost of the program would likely be a fraction of the $500m wasted so far, closer to the $123.4m allocated to a five-year program in 2001, if the program had been an aggressive containment and suppression program. Dr Wylie has a lot to answer for. Time for a Royal Commission. 15th September 2019.
In a Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries podcast in July 2019, Fire Ant Program Science Manager, Dr Ross Wylie, admitted publicly what he has known since 2001 when he was the Chair of the program’s Scientific Advisory Panel: it has never been feasible to eradicate well-entrenched fire ant infestations in south-east Queensland and the best and most cost-effective option was to aggressively contain and suppress them.
He has known since April 2001 when Departmental experts said ‘eradication would not appear feasible given overseas experience and the results of surveys in Brisbane.’ He has known since June 2001 when fire ant experts from the USA described south-east Queensland as ‘fire ant heaven’ and said the infestation was already as bad as anything they had seen in the USA that had been infested since the 1930s. He has known since June 2001, that USA experts said the best and most cost-effective option was to aggressively contain and vigorously suppress the infestation.
He has also known since June 2001, that then Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries, Henry Palaszczuk, rejected sound scientific advice and instead announced the folly of ‘a long-term campaign to eradicate this pest’ to create four hundred jobs, because the Commonwealth government would fund an eradication program, but not a containment program. Dr Wylie would know that even the Courier Mail remarked at the time that ‘Queensland may have embarked on an ambitious eradication program partly to gain financial help from the Commonwealth who would only fund an eradication program.’
Dr Wylie knows that there has never been any incentive for the Queensland government to eradicate fire ants or to shorten this very long-term folly of an eradication program because it has pumped $450m of national cost-share funding in the Queensland Treasury so far and created thousands of jobs in Queensland.
Dr Wylie knows that independent scientific reviews in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010 all said the eradication program was not working.
As recently as May 2019, Dr Wylie told Channel Ten Television News Brisbane that the program had contained the spread of fire ants in south-east Queensland to around 500,000ha when he knows fire ants are continually being found well beyond the program’s operational boundaries. He also said the program had prevented the fire ant infestation spreading between Sydney in the south, Mackay in the north and Charleville in the west when he knows, as independent reviews have repeatedly said, the program has no reliable and consistent data on the effectiveness of ANY of its elements: treatment, surveillance or containment.
And knowing the program has never had a functioning information system and never collected reliable and consistent performance data, Dr Wylie has repeatedly claimed the program had eradicated five incursions of fire ants.
But in July 2019, Dr Wylie back-flipped. In a podcast called “Fire Ants: Fighting Fire with Fire” on ‘Turf n Surf’, the official podcast site of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Wylie said ‘Even if we didn’t or couldn’t eradicate it,’ knowing there is no scientific evidence that it was possible to eradicate well-entrenched infestations from south- east Queensland, the program ‘is still good value for money’ because it is now an aggressive containment program.
Dr Wylie knows that if the Queensland government had implemented an aggressive containment and suppression program in 2001, it is likely the extent of the infestation would be a fraction of what it is now: closer to the 40,000ha it was in 2002, than the 500,000ha it is now. Dr Wylie knows that if the Queensland government had implemented an aggressive containment and suppression program in 2001, it is likely the cost of the program would be a fraction of the $500m wasted so far: closer to the $123.4m was allocated to a five-year program in 2001.
Dr Wylie has a lot to answer for.
Time for a Royal Commission.