Dr Craik told the ‘Beaudesert Times’ she was concerned that children spending more time in their gardens due to COVID-19 movement restrictions might be more likely to be stung by fire ants. So, she is advising families to treat their own properties at their own expense. Families in infested areas have been concerned about the safety of their children since 2001. What has the program, under Dr Craik done about that? Why does the public have to pay when the program receives an annual budget of $42m treat fire ant nests? Dr Craik continues to repeat the Queensland government ‘spin’ that the program is achieving ‘promising results’ in infested areas at the end of the final season of treatment. The facts are, after spending $500m over eighteen years, fire ants are out of control, the infestation has blown out from 40,000ha to over 500,000ha and fire ants are re-infesting fully treated areas and dozens of new housing estates. Dr Craik claims the program is implementing new social distancing and hygiene rules to keep field staff and the community safe, but teams of three staff are still seen travelling in the same vehicle and staff have to visit properties where the residents have the COVID-19 virus. Dr Craik is now dumping the costs of treating fire ant nests onto residents. – giving them the options of buying bait and treating nests themselves, or engaging a licensed pest manager to do it for them, or wait weeks, while fire ants continue to spread, for the program to treat the nests for free. Meanwhile the Queensland government has received $42m annual national funding to treat fire ant nests. Who is Dr Craik working for, the Queensland public or the Queensland government? This is not the first time Dr Craik’s independence has been called into question. In 2018, the federal government asked her to review the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, ‘to get the balance right’ between the environment and agriculture. At the time she was a director of the Australian Farm Institute, an agriculture lobby group. In September 2018 she signed off on a recommendation to set-up a $1 billion trust fund to compensate farmers. Time for a Royal Commission to call to account the Queensland Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Chair of the National Fire Ant Eradication Program Steering Committee and the Director-General of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for the waste of $500m of public money and an out-of-control fire ant infestation. 7th April 2020.
In early 2017, I asked previous Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, ‘How come the Queensland government puts in 10% of the funding for the fire ant program but makes 100% of the decisions on how the money is spent?’ He said ‘Good question!’ In July 2017, he appointed a new national Steering Committee to the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, with Dr Wendy Craik as the independent chair. The national Steering Committee is now 100% responsible for how the program spends $42m of annual funding.
Dr Craik is now dumping the costs of treating fire ant nests back onto the public, while the program is given $42m annual funding to treat fire ant nests. Who is Dr Craik working for – the Queensland public or the Queensland government?
With residents in south-east Queensland spending more time in their gardens due to COVID-19 movement restrictions, Dr Craik, told the ‘Beaudesert Times’ on 3rd April 2020 that she was concerned that families and children were exposed to a greater risk of painful fire ant stings that, in rare cases, can be life-threatening and require hospitalisation – the last thing our hospitals and health services need at the moment. What’s new? When I interviewed residents in infested areas in 2001, they said one of their biggest concerns was their children being stung in their own backyard. Why has the fire ant program, with Dr Craik as independent chair, done so little to address that concern?
Continuing Queensland government ‘spin’, Dr Craik also told the ‘Beaudesert Times’ the eradication program in the Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and parts of Ipswich were showing ‘promising results ‘near the end of the final season of treatment. Only ‘promising results’ after the program has spent $500m over eighteen years. The facts are, fire ants are now out of control. The infestation has blown out of 40,000ha to over 500,000ha. Fire ants are re-infesting fully treated areas, and infesting dozens of new housing estates.
Dr Craik also claimed the program is implementing new social distancing and hygiene rules by restricting face-to-face meetings and reducing the number of workers travelling to sites together to protect the health and safety of staff and the public. But teams of three field staff have been seen travelling in the same vehicle, field staff have to use public toilets in parks that have been shut down and they have to visit properties where residents are already have the COVID-19 virus. The best advise management can offer teams is to drive with their windows down to minimise the spread of the virus. Really?
Fire ants are out of control and the fire ant program has wasted $500m of public money, and Dr Craik is now dumping the costs and responsibility of treating fire ant nests onto residents. She is suggesting residents buy off-the-shelf treatments, or engage a licensed pest manager to treat nests for them, or wait weeks, while fire ants continue to spread, for the program to come and treat them for free. At the same time, the program is given $42m annual funding to treat fire ant nests. Who is Dr Craik working for? The Queensland public or the Queensland government?
This is not the first time Dr Craik’s independence has been called into question. Jommy Tee reported in ‘Michael West Media’ in September 2019 that Dr Craik had been approached by the federal government in March 2018 to review the impact of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to ‘get the balance right between protecting our environment and allowing our agriculture section to grow and prosper.’ At the time she was a director of the Australian Farm Institute whose aim is ‘to ensure the needs of agriculture are well understood…in policy decisions made by government.’ In September 2018 she signed off on a recommendation to set up a $1 billion trust fund to compensate farmers.
Time for a Royal Commission to call to account the Queensland Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Chair of the National Fire Ant Eradication Program Steering Committee and the Director-General of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for the waste of $500m of public money and an out of control fire ant infestation.