On November 14, the NSW government reported that fire ants, including six queens, were discovered at a farm in Eureka in the Byron Shire.
They were eradicated.
The current Fire Ant Response Plan 2023–27 is a multi-governmental effort – in the Tweed Shire, the ‘broadcast baiting’ system is used, which has been criticised as distributing poisons indiscriminately across ecosystems and farmlands.
A secret plan
It’s a secret plan, and is classified as ‘cabinet-in-confidence and cannot be published’.
Furthermore, biosecurity laws in Qld give powers for government agencies to access properties and spray without consent.
NSW Fire Ant Truths (NFAT) has launched a campaign to educate the Northern Rivers and beyond about what they say are the dire consequences of broadcast baiting.
The NFAT campaign advocates for a more on-the-ground approach, which they say has proven success in the Americas, where fire ants are endemic.
They say the most enduring programs there generally utilise hot water poured directly onto the ants’ nests, which effectively kills the colony.
The broadcast baiting method laces corn with methoprene and pyriproxyfen – this is scattered via helicopter or by hand, whether fire ants have been found in specific locations or not.
Endocrine disruptors
This includes urban gardens, livestock and produce farms as well as untouched wilderness. The poisons used are endocrine disruptors, which are chemicals that interfere with the body’s endocrine (hormonal) system and damages the lifecycle of living organisms.
While there is little online information on the negative impacts of broadcast baiting, Dr Conny Turni (Qld Uni, BSc, Hons, PhD) made a submission to the federal Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia inquiry in December last year.
She describes it as a ‘total failure of a program’, and says it is not based on scientific evidence. She is also highly critical of how spraying has impacted her rural property.
Dr Turni writes, ‘According to the report it has cost us $644 million to have the ants spread from the port of Queensland to now 700,000 ha of South East Queensland, meaning the program has totally failed to eradicate, nor even stop, the spread of the ants. They are now spending another $593 million over four years to do what they have done for 22 years with no success. An outcome that was predicted by the experience from overseas. Meanwhile, fire ants have been found in NSW’.
Organic certification
Concerns over organic certification were also raised, and Dr Turni says she lodged an official complaint to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program ‘about their spraying of chemicals without the consent of the owners of properties (I was not contacted, and my land was sprayed) and spraying a product in breach of their permit’.
In response, she says she was threatened with a $13,700 fine ‘if I do not let them spray’.
She also says, ‘My property had lots of green frogs, which is a sign that the environment is healthy. After the spraying in early 2022, I have not seen a single green frog. In December 2023 I have seen the first green frog again’.
She writes: ‘As with all science a precautionary principle should be used’, and within her submission, she provides scientific studies supporting her claims.
Questions
Echo questions were put to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program team, run by the Qld government.
They were: ‘What studies have supported the safe administration of spraying growth regulators over large areas of the environment? Is this based on scientific evidence, and if so is that available?’
And – ‘What was the process that led to this program? Is that available?’
APVMA approval
They replied, ‘The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is the independent authority responsible for assessing and issuing approved instructions via labels and permits for the use of agricultural chemicals under the Commonwealth’s Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994’.
‘The APVMA has assessed and registered and/or permitted treatments for fire ants, ensuring they are safe for humans, animals, and the environment.
‘The program’s broadscale eradication treatment products consist of small pieces of corn grit soaked in soybean oil containing a low concentrate of an insect growth regulator (IGR), either pyriproxyfen or S-methoprene. These IGRs break the life cycle of insect pests by preventing the production of viable young.
‘The Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard) Instrument does not classify these IGRs as poisons, owing to their low toxicity to humans. Based on scientific literature and over 20 years of data collected by our program, the concentration of IGRs in our eradication treatment products is safe for humans, animals, and the environment.
‘Pyriproxyfen is approved for use in pest control on food crops and in household pest control products, while S-methoprene is used in drinking water to prevent mosquito-borne diseases and in flea and tick treatments for pets.
‘For fire ant eradication, our treatment is applied at a maximum rate of 2kg per ha, with the active ingredient concentration being 5g (1 teaspoon) per 1kg of the treatment product. On a standard 500m² property, the treatment applied is 100g, containing 0.5g of IGR. For a 10-acre property, 8kg of treatment is applied, containing 40g (2 tablespoons) of IGR.
A granular product
‘We use a granular product, not a spray, and it is spread thinly over targeted areas using various methods, including handheld spreaders, utility terrain vehicles, and aircraft (drones, helicopters, and fixed-wing planes).
‘Our eradication treatment poses minimal environmental risk, especially compared to the devastating impact that untreated fire ants will have on our health, environment, economy, and outdoor way of life. If not eradicated, fire ants will infest up to 97 per cent of Australia – forever changing our way of life. The experience of other countries that have failed to eradicate these ants provides strong evidence about what is at stake for every Australian.
‘We have explored – and continue to explore – alternative treatment methods. Our current method is internationally recognised as best practice for large-scale eradication. We are committed to using the most effective and safest methods available to protect Australia from fire ants.
Adverse effects
‘Any suspected adverse effects from the use of fire ant treatments should be reported to the APVMA’s Adverse Experience Reporting Program.
‘Our goal is to eradicate fire ants from Australia by 2032. Since the first detection in Queensland in 2001, we have successfully eradicated eight out of nine incursions.
‘Our success is confirmed by our ability to contain established fire ants to a small area. Had our program not been as effective, fire ants would have spread north to Townsville, west past Longreach, and south to Albury – as projected by spread modelling from other countries that have failed to eradicate them. These countries continue to suffer the impacts of fire ants daily, which are recognised globally as one of the world’s most invasive species’.
Local MP Tamara Smith (Greens) was asked ‘Are you confident the baiting program is effective and poses no long term threat to other species?’
She described it as a ‘very wicked ecological dilemma’.
Greens MP: ‘no viable alternatives’
‘The precautionary principle tells us that the risks have to be weighed, and unfortunately, there are no viable alternatives to using pesticide baits to eradicate nests at the moment, and the risk of them spreading is virtually immeasurable owing to the follow-on destruction of countless native flora and fauna, damage to crops and livestock, and life-threatening danger to humans.
‘My parliamentary colleagues in the region and I have been working closely with the NSW minister for agriculture and the Invasive Species Council to see a significant containment and eradication strategy delivered in response to fire ants migrating into the Northern Rivers from southern Queensland’.
Ms Smith’s full reply is at www.echo.net.au.
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