News this morning that fire ants are now in the Murray darling basin, How long is it going to take for pollies to get serious and commit some massive funding for eradication before we make the same mistake as the US, and dither to the point that eradication is no longer possible?
If we wait too long, our nomadic lifestyle will be changed forever.
Fire Ant Eradication team members have a job for life if they do a poor job. Five weeks from reporting to action at my place just this month. A couple of present chap pies turned up, had a look at the nests I had found, found a couple more, then spread a bit of bait around. Told to report again if they are still here in three weeks. Property next door had 53 nests by the time anyone turned up to treat. Still got at least 5 active nests and having to buy bait now. The guys who came to my property let on the long lead time is down to a backlog of 4600 reports outstanding, with more coming in every day.
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Iza
Semi-permanent state of being Recreationally Outraged as a defence against boredom during lockdown.
I believe fire ants were first detected in the Port of Brisbane in 2001 and that even at that time they may have been there (in QLD) for 20 odd years.
I recall a mate of mine in the Army mentioning them as being a problem where he lived in inner Brisbane in 1996. Therefore I would suggest that there is little likelihood of the spread being halted and/or the fire ants being eliminated.
