An invasive species that landed in Queensland two decades ago is heading south for New South Wales and may wreak ecological and economic havoc.
A new biosecurity tax on farmers will be “passed on at the checkout”, according to Nationals leader David Littleproud.
“What parallel universe would any sovereign government charge its own farmers the costs of bringing in their foreign competitors’ goods to this country?” Mr Littleproud told Sky News Australia.
“Farmers can’t absorb that.”
Fire ants are a pest in Australia and are believed to have arrived in Brisbane around the year 2000 via shipping crates from the United States.
The ants are now found across Brisbane and other areas of southeast Queensland and its suspected they are slowly heading south towards the New South Wales border.
Due to their venomous stings, fire ants pose a direct threat to our traditional outdoor lifestyles.
Mounds of fire ants are highly aggressive to both humans and animals and can also damage crops, infrastructure and homes.
Fire ants were first detected in Australia about 20 years ago. Photo by Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.
“The cost of action on fire ants is far cheaper than the cost of living with fire ants,” Reece Pianta from the Invasive Species Council told The Guardian on Friday.
Economists at Central Queensland University modelled the economic impacts of the spread of the fire ants if they progressed at a minimum speed of 5km a year or a “maximum” spread of 48km a year.
If they spread at a maximum rate, the pests will likely reach the Liverpool Plains and northern outskirts of Sydney as soon as 2035.
Fire ants could cost New South Wales over $1 billion every year. Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
The annual costs to the economy for a 5km a year invasion would be about $890 million and would keep rising year on year.
And if they made it to Sydney the costs could top over $1.2 billion a year.
Most of the financial impacts will derive from households having to pay for pesticides, veterinary bills for injured pets and electrical faults caused by the ants damaging property.
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The march of the fire ants is the latest scourge on Australia’s unique and fragile ecosystems, which have suffered since European colonisation following the introduction of at least 56 invasive species.
Insects are the second costliest class of invasive species in Australia, behind only mammals like the domestic cat, European rabbits and feral pigs.
The yellow crazy ant, a similarly destructive insect from West Africa, has also arrived in Australia but has been successfully quarantined on Christmas Island.