Fire ants have been detected in central Queensland for the first time in history after a major outbreak at a BHP Broadmeadow coalmine.
The discovery has prompted fury among the Invasive Species Council, who have questioned how the invasive pest had travelled almost 800km from the closest known infestation zone.
The National Fire Ant Eradication Program on Friday urged businesses and industry to stay alert for fire ants after nests were discovered at Moranbah, a coalmining town about 150km inland from Mackay.
They said program eradication officers first visited the BHP mine on 9 July, and the nests were destroyed using direct injection.
“The program … will conduct eradication activities across the impacted area – including intensive surveillance and broadscale treatment – to ensure any present fire ants are eradicated,” they said in a statement.
“Genetic analysis and tracing activities are being conducted to help determine how the ants reached Moranbah.
“Detections outside the south east Queensland eradication zone are serious and highlight the risk posed by movement of materials that can carry fire ants.”
A spokesperson for BHP said keeping the community safe was the company’s “top priority” and it was “working closely” with the National Fire Ant Eradication Program to support the “rapid containment, treatment, and eradication of this fire ant detection”.
Red imported fire ants are one of the world’s worst invasive species, considered a pest due to their painful stings and potential to cause severe ecological, agricultural and economic damage.
Twenty-three people in Queensland were hospitalised with serious fire ant stings amid a surge in reports in the aftermath of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
They were first detected in Australia in Queensland in 2001 and have since been found in parts of New South Wales and Western Australia. They are a category 1 restricted matter under the National Environmental Biosecurity Response Agreement.
The Invasive Species Council said the breach outside existing biosecurity zones, which are spread throughout Queensland, was unacceptable and pointed to the need for additional funding.
Its advocacy director, Reece Pianta, said he was “incredibly angry”.
“In the last week, we’ve had another detection in New South Wales, an interception in Western Australia and now the first outbreak in Central Queensland,” he said.
“This is not bad luck, it’s a spectacular failure because of known gaps in funding, enforcement and surveillance.
“Australia’s last chance to eradicate deadly fire ants is being destroyed because Australia’s governments are dithering and delaying critical funding increases.”
Pianta pointed to a recent Senate inquiry into red imported fire ants which found the government program tasked with their elimination was an “absolute shambles” and that an independent eradication body was urgently needed.
“We have warned for two years that there is a major gap in funding for suppression, with nest densities off the charts south of Brisbane,” Pianta said.
“Now we’re seeing the consequences play out – fire ants are slipping through the cracks and turning up in places they’ve never been before.”
A spokesperson for the federal government said the Queensland government-led National Fire Ant Eradication Program aimed to eradicate red imported fire ants from south east Queensland by 2032 and continued to respond quickly to new detections outside the containment zone.
“Our government is contributing a record investment of just under $300m for the program, representing around 50% of the total national cost-shared budget,” they said.
“This is nearly four times more investment than was the case at the end of 2021-22.”
