With its tropical climate and picturesque beaches, the Whitsundays draw travellers from around the globe, but recently the area has been battling an unwelcome visitor.
Key points:
- A fifth outbreak of yellow crazy ants has now been confirmed in the Whitsundays
- The influx of ants has been linked to construction materials from locations with an existing pest problem
- The ants are devastating to local wildlife and can throw acid which can burn people’s skin and eyes
And now, as more people choose to call the North Queensland region home, there are fears the construction of new houses could open it up to more invasions of the devastating insect.
A fifth infestation of yellow crazy ants has been confirmed this week at the coastal town of Mandalay.
Infestations have occurred at four other locations over the past five years, including Shute Harbour, Funnel Bay, Hamilton Island and Woodwark.
The ants have also infiltrated homes in the region, with reports of wire damage to at least one Woodwark property.
But the council believes it’s now discovered the cause of the outbreaks.
Scott Hardy, coordinator of natural resource management and climate at Whitsunday Regional Council, said the ants were coming in on building supplies sourced from locations with existing infestations.
“We think there’s a pretty good connection between the yellow crazy ants coming to the Whitsundays and building material,” he said.
“[That] creates a problem for us because potentially every house which has been built in the last few years could be a potential new crazy ant contamination.”
Population boom
The Whitsunday region has seen steady growth in recent years, with a population increase of 2.44 per cent recorded in the 2021-22 financial year, compared to an increase of only 1.8 per cent across regional Queensland as a whole.
Mr Hardy said with the ongoing construction of new properties, the council now needed to work with the building industry to curb the outbreaks.
“Education and awareness for builders and the building industry is needed,” he said.
“We’d hate to get to a point where we need to bring in declaration forms for building and construction material.
“But if the education awareness process doesn’t work, maybe we need to bring in a little bit of regulation around biosecurity measures to try and prevent new infestations arising.”
The news has come as a shock to builders, according to the regional manager for the Mackay and Whitsunday branch of Master Builders Queensland, Malcolm Hull.
He said he was unaware of the link between building new homes and the ant infestations.
“I was actually very surprised,” he said.
“I don’t think the building industry is aware that there’s a problem or that their materials are causing part of this issue.”
He said builders need to be educated on what they could do, such as checking with suppliers whether they were sourcing materials from somewhere with an ant infestation.
“Crazy ants [are] probably not high on their agenda of questioning the supplier, but it very well could be part of the conversation to be had.”
A problem with a big price tag
Mr Hardy said there was a heavy price tag on efforts to get the pest under control.
“The annual estimated cost is around $200,000,” he said.
“And we know that we can’t eradicate these ants in the short term. It takes a number of years.
“So if we project out the costs over 10 years, we won’t have much change out of a million dollars to treat the five infestations we have now.
“We could do with a lot more support from the state government and funding to help prevent this problem from happening again and also help treat the problem now.”
Biosecurity was a big topic in the recently released Queensland budget, which included almost $61 million in funding over four years to eradicate another serious ant problem, fire ants.
When it comes to yellow crazy ants, though, Queensland Minister for Agriculture Mark Furner said no additional financial assistance had been slated at this stage.
“We’re working with the Whitsunday Regional Council. They’re leading the measurement of the treatment and those yellow crazy ant detections along with the help of Biosecurity Queensland and Queensland Parks and Wildlife.”
But he said future support wasn’t off the cards.
“No doubt with the funding we’ve put forward with the national biosecurity system, there may be a case to consider some assistance in that respect.”
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