A call for a collaborative effort in the fight against fire ants was delivered yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture and Regional New South Wales, Tara Moriarty, as she announced the start of Operation Victa, a joint three day operation with NSW Police and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
The minister was joined by Tweed/Byron Police District Commander, Superintendent Grant Erickson, Chief Invasive Species Officer at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Scott Charlton, and the manager of the Regulatory Operations Unit at DPIRD, Mark Mackie.
The group gave a media confence at the site of the pop-up heavy vehicle inspection site at the Yelgun Rest Area, Brunswick Valley Way, Billinudgel.
Minister Moriarty said that yesterday was the start of the sixth incarnation of Operation Victa, a coordinated border control on the NSW side of the NSW Queensland border to protect the state from fire red imported fire ants. ‘The NSW government, the Minns Labor government, is as committed as we could possibly be to keeping red imported fire ants out of New South Wales,’ she said.
We do not want them
‘They’re dangerous little critters. We do not want them in our state, and so we are throwing everything we can at keeping these ants out of the state. That includes the operation that has begun today, which will go for a couple of days.’
Moriarty said the operation involved stopping trucks and people who are moving high risk materials like mulch, sand and plants and similar items.’They are required to follow the rules under our Fire Ant Biosecurity Zone rules and under the Biosecurity Act.
‘This is a very serious issue. It’s a very serious operation. People might think that ants aren’t that much of a problem, but the NSW government is spending $95 million on this operation and others to keep these ants out of our state.’
Moriarty says biosecurity is everybody’s responsibility. ‘The NSW government is working today with the NSW Police, they are doing a fantastic job checking things on the border here, and also Transport for NSW and other agencies.’
Multi-agency response to a very serious problem
Superintendent Grant Erickson, Tweed/Byron Police District Commander, said the multi-agency response was needed to address a very serious problem. ‘Part of the strategies we employ today is to mitigate that risk in respect to NSW, and also awareness for people, not only in NSW, but Queensland.
‘This operation will be run over three days. We’ll be using resources from the Traffic and Highway Patrol locations including from here to Chindera and also out in the western region, to Jennings, which is out near Tenterfield.’
Superintendent Erickson said collaboration was the key to successful operations.
Solid results
‘This is the sixth time it’s been run, and the five times previously have had some really solid results, with some people being turned around and going back into Queensland to mitigate that risk, but also investigations carried out by the DPIRD, subsequently, issuing fines in respect to those breaches in NSW.’
Ms Moriarty says biosecurity and the rules around biosecurity are everybody’s responsibility.
‘We need suppliers to understand the rules,’ she said. ‘There are serious fines and consequences if they don’t, which is why we’re conducting operations like this, but we also need the community to understand the work that we’re doing here and the risks and what to look out for.
‘We’ve had a couple of incursions events here in NSW over the last two years – which thanks to operations like this and the work that we’re doing with the government, but also the vigilance of the community calling into our hotline when they think they’ve seen red imported fire ants – has meant that we’ve been able to eradicate them where we’ve found them.’
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