Biosecurity Queensland is spending $$$m of public money hiring helicopters and hundreds of field staff to dump thousands of tonnes of expensive, water-sensitive fire ant bait over thousands of hectares of rain-soaked south-east Queensland while the ants stay safe underground. How many areas now fire ant free? None.
Evidence of Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence is the fact the fire ant infestation in south-east Queensland has blown out from approximately 40,000ha in 2002 to 600,000ha by 2019 and likely to be around 700,000ha by now.
Evidence of Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence is the fact the budget in 2001 was $123.4m, $400m by 2017 and over $700m by December 2021. Now they want another $90m each year.
Evidence of Biosecurity Queensland’s incompetence is the fact it is spending millions of dollars of public money hiring helicopters and hundreds of field staff to dump thousands of tonnes of expensive, water-sensitive fire ant bait over thousands of hectares of rain-soaked south-east Queensland while the ants stay safe underground.
Biosecurity Queensland reports how many hectares it has treated, but NEVER how many areas are now fire ant free because the answer is NONE.
Time for a Royal Commission to hold all those responsible for this national biosecurity disaster to account.
7th June 2022.