Video released by the National Fire Ant Eradication Program shows how quickly the world’s worst invasive pests swarm to protect their nests.
House painter Joel Booker was lucky not to have been attacked by red imported fire ants at the site of Queensland’s latest fire ant outbreak.
Painter Joel Booker was working in a house close to the fire ant nests in North Arm. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
He repeatedly, unknowingly, walked past nests at a rural subdivision at North Arm, south of Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast.
“I wasn’t too aware of what they were and what they were capable of but it’s a little bit concerning,” Mr Booker said.
The first the painter knew of his close brush with being stung was when an inspector pulled up to search the footpath and gardens outside the house where he was working.
Residents in this home were shocked to discover a fire ant nest in their backyard. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
Seven nests were confirmed and killed last Friday after a member of the public raised the alarm.
One was found in a backyard shared with a children’s swing set.
More than a dozen National Fire Ant Eradication Program workers are still searching and treating a 500-metre radius around the nest sites with insect growth retardants.
It is the northernmost fire ant outbreak in Queensland since the world’s worst invasive species was discovered and eradicated in Gladstone in 2016.
Fire ants were first detected in Brisbane in 2001.
The red imported fire ant attacks en masse. (Supplied: National Fire Ant Eradication Program)
The small coppery-brown insects tend to swarm and sting all at once, repeatedly, and can cause a severe burning sensation and anaphylactic shock.
Unlike other insect stings, fire ant venom builds up in the body, meaning the more people or their pets are stung, the greater the risk of an extreme reaction.
A fire ant bite can cause a nasty rash. (Supplied: National Fire Ant Eradication Program)
Source still to be determined
At this stage, authorities do not think the North Arm outbreak is linked to discoveries of fire ants at Nirimba west of Caloundra, and D’Aguilar north-west of Brisbane last year.
National Fire Ant Program compliance manager, Robbie Wilson, said the invasive ants likely arrived at the subdivision in “carrier” materials like mulch, plants, turf or soil.
He said DNA testing of fire ants from North Arm was underway as they worked with “carrier” suppliers to trace the source.
“[We will] try and identify where that’s come from and if there’s any further risk or further carrier movements of fire ants outside the [suppression] zone,” Mr Wilson said.
South-east Queensland is a fire ant eradication focus area. (Supplied: National Fire Ant Eradication Program)
Mapping shows the eradication treatment area, marked in red, bordering south-east Queensland’s fire ant biosecurity zone.
The grey area within it is listed as a suppression zone.
The Invasive Species Council’s Reece Pianta said that 300,000 hectares of the 850,000 hectares in the zone was under active eradication.
Reece Pianta is a fire ant expert from the Invasive Species Council. (Supplied: Invasive Species Council)
Mr Pianta said he was concerned that fire ant numbers were growing within that suppression boundary and more resources were needed.
“That area is being managed by property owners, local councils and state and local government departments,” he said.
“We’re putting at risk the entire eradication effort because there’s this suppression issue inside the fire ant zone.”
Authorities searched turf for fire ants at Clunes in November 2024. (Supplied: NSW DPI Fire Ant Program)
Southern spread
Nests were discovered and eradicated at Clunes near Byron Bay, in November — believed to have arrived in turf from south-east Queensland.
The incident sparked an emergency control order, that remains in place, banning turf movements from parts of south-east Queensland into New South Wales.
“Something we’ve been warning about for a long time is the high risk at the moment of fire ants getting into carrier materials and spreading to new locations,” Mr Pianta said.
Fire ants can spread by human movement of materials. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
Mr Pianta said Australia was still the most successful country in the world at eradicating fire ants, with infestations in Perth, Sydney and Gladstone eradicated and the spread in Queensland slowed.
He challenged Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton to make commitments over their plans for the next 12 months to get the fire situation under control.
“It’s a problem for Queensland at the moment, it’s a problem for New South Wales, but if we don’t get it under control it’s going to be a problem for the whole country.”
Despite the North Arm outbreak, Robbie Wilson said the National Fire Ant Program was on track.
“We remain confident, from our planning perspective and our treatment regime, that we still be able to eradicate fire ants by 2032,” Mr Wilson said.
