Boosting fire ant eradication efforts all year round

• Fire ant treatment extended from warmer months to year-round after game-changing research.
• Winter fire ant eradication underway in Lockyer Valley, Somerset, and Scenic Rim regions.  
• Part of the Crisafulli Government’s plan to give the fire ant program the attention it deserves and implement recommendations Labor ignored for years. 

The Crisafulli Government is accelerating efforts to stop the march of fire ants with new year-round treatment. 

For the first time, fire ant eradication treatment will be conducted in winter, which is expected to enhance eradication efforts and reduce the pest’s infestation footprint. 

The Crisafulli Government is ramping up efforts to eradicate and suppress the super-pests, with increased treatments to reverse Labor’s failed biosecurity approach that allowed them to spread across South East Queensland. 

The additional winter treatments follow scientific trials conducted by the National Fire Ant Eradication Program that have proven fire ants continue to forage and consume treatment granules even as Queensland experiences cooler temperatures.  

Eradication treatment has begun in western areas of the biosecurity zone, including parts of the Lockyer Valley through Somerset and the Scenic Rim, before teams then move east towards the southern Gold Coast, where warmer temperatures persist longer. 

The former Labor government ignored multiple independent recommendations to deal with the invasive pest, leading fire ants to spread into New South Wales. 

Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett said the Crisafulli Government was committed to strengthening the fight against the invasive species, which threatens our health, environment, economy, and lifestyle, including primary production. 

“The era of Labor’s lacklustre go-slow approach to fire ants is over and we are meeting this challenge with all the resources available,” Minister Perrett said. 

“The research-based treatment all year round could change the game for the National Fire Ant Eradication Program and puts Queensland in a very exciting position to have the best chance to eradicate fire ants from Australia by 2032. 

“We are listening to the most cutting-edge science, and we are implementing key recommendations from multiple scathing reports that Labor ignored during their decade in power.