The national body tasked with preventing the spread of red imported fire ants has been accused of a lack of transparency around details of a recent outbreak of the highly invasive pest in south east Queensland.
The National Fire Ant Eradication Program announced in mid-April it was treating an outbreak of RIFA at the Swartz Army Barracks at Oakey.
Despite some reports the infestation originated from a south east Queensland turf farm, the government is yet to publicly reveal a source or how long the RIFA nests have been at the Oakey site.
Queensland Country Life approached a number of stakeholders with questions about the Oakey infestation, including the NFAEP, the Department of Defence, the Invasive Species Council, Turf Queensland and the Queensland Farmers Federation.
All were asked how long RIFA had been at the army base and where the RIFA infestation originated.
Invasive Species Council advocacy manager Reece Pianta said he felt details from when the Oakey infestation was announced, "could have been clearer" to prevent industry and community confusion.
"In the recent Senate RIFA committee report one recommendation was to create an independent authority to ensure clear messages go out to industry and the public," he said.
"Managing invasive species is about managing and communicating with people, this is how we will win the fight against RIFA."
He said he understood the DNA of the RIFA found at Oakey matched those pests located in Brisbane.
"Genetically these RIFA are the same as those which have been in Queensland for some time but we don't know the origins of those found at Oakey," he said.
"We are trying to fund a mammoth-sized project with a mouse-sized budget."
A NFAEP spokesperson said, work on tracing and confirming the source of the fire ants detected at Oakey was continuing.
"The process of confirmation can take some time," the spokesperson said.
"And we work with affected property owners and relevant businesses as appropriate."
On May 2 in state parliament, Agriculture minister Mark Furner confirmed he had been advised by Biosecurity Queensland the infestation at Oakey had been caused by the pest being present in turf which had been transported to the property several years earlier.
"In this case, I believe that it was a turf farm in the south east corner that supplied turf to the defence base some years ago that spread the ants," he said.
However, the owner of a Logan turf business which has received a biosecurity order to cease trading denied his product was the source of the infestation.
A Defence spokesperson said the NFAEP was leading the treatment and monitoring of the RIFA detection at Swartz Barracks.
"Defence is working actively with the NFAEP to support the incident response and to mitigate the spread," the spokesperson said.
"Defence applies stringent biosecurity protocols on Defence land, including restrictions to the movement of soil, pests and weeds."
AgForce senior policy (biosecurity and sustainability) adviser Dr Annie Ruttledge attended the NFEAP community information session held in Oakey on May 2, where representatives from the program's operations, communications and engagement and compliance gave an infestation update.
Dr Ruttledge said the staff said they "had a high level of confidence" the infestation origin was highly likely to be from human-assisted movement.
"There was no confirmation RIFA were introduced through turf," she said.
"They said they were conducting an extensive backtracking and movement analysis of potential high-risk fire ant carrier materials going back over a two-year period.
"We asked a number of times about the length of time the infestation had been there and they were adamant the RIFA had definitely not been there as long as five year and it was more likely to be at least six to eight months."
Dr Ruttledge said the decision by NFAEP to use high-tech solutions such as Environmental DNA which used nuclear or mitochondrial DNA released from an organism into the environment to locate RIFA, "could be a game changer."
"Using eDNA to identify RIFA has not been used previously, but we believe it could be a game changer and this could be a prefect test case for it," she said.
"NFEAP also said it will deploy cutting edge surveillance tactics, including multi-spectral cameras mounted to helicopters, and environmental DNA (eDNA) testing of soil and water, to rule out further spread of RIFA into the Murray Darling Basin."
Last week Turf Queensland met with Agriculture minister Mark Furner to request his support for a $435,000 Turf Biosecurity Accreditation Program, but were told funding was unavailable despite the NFAEP being allocated $1.2 billion of state and federal funding.
TQ board member Hugo Struss said all members of the organisation had been "diligently working to address the challenges of this mandate faced by Queensland turf farmers."
Queensland Farmers Federation CEO Jo Sheppard said she had not been informed of any details from where the Oakey infestation originated.
"The turf industry has taken the RIFA threat very seriously," she said.
"In relation to this outbreak, TQ are working hard and we support their Turf Biosecurity Accreditation Program.
"We need all stakeholders to be transparent, open and trustworthy as it will take a combined effort of industry, community and all levels of government to overcome RIFA."
Timeline of Oakey RIFA Infestation
February 2024 - Senate April 16, 2024 - RIFA detected at Swartz Barracks, NFAEP alerted.
April 17, 2024 - NFAEP commenced treatment and monitoring.
April 23, 2024 - Industry concerned defence land could be a weak spot in RFIA eradication.
April 24, 2024 - ISC said nest density made it highly likely RIFA had been there or two to five years already.
May 1, 2024 - Oakey community protest lack of communication from NFAEP.
May 3, 2024 - Logan turf grower shut down by BQ denies RIFA from his farm, Agriculture minister said in parliament BQ advised him a local turf grower responsible.
May 6, 2024 - Turf Queensland calls on DAF to support a Turf Biosecurity Accreditation Program
May 6, 2024 - Tur grower calls on TMR to eradicate RIFA on state roads.
May 7, 2024 - TMR response to turf grower complaint they were not managing RIFA on state roads.
The situation follows a scathing report handed down by a Senate committee last month that recommended the government immediately improve delivery of the eradication program.
May 8, 2024 - QCL publishes update from stakeholders regarding investigation.
Last week after the owner of a Logan turf business denied his commodity was the source of the RIFA infestation at Swartz Barracks, the ISCl said the pest could hav
Know more about RIFA or having trouble getting baits? Contact Alison Paterson on 0437 861 082.
