Chair's foreword

The red imported fire ant infestation in South East Queensland is perhaps Australia's greatest current biosecurity challenge. The risk of a wider outbreak of red imported fire ants is high given they have evaded all attempts to eradicate them over two decades. The consequence of a broader outbreak is severe affecting agriculture, native species, and human health. Evidence to this Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References committee (the committee) indicated that an Australia wide outbreak of RIFA could cost Australians $2 billion per annum.

The Australian Government has spent $690 million to contain and eradicate red imported fire ants from South East Queensland since they were first observed in 2001. While these efforts have largely contained the ants to South East Queensland, we have not been close to eradicating them from this area.

Australia's red imported fire ant response has been hampered by shortfalls in funding, excessive bureaucracy, insufficient coordination between different levels of government, a lack of transparency and a reluctance to involve industry and the private sector in solutions. A major review (the Scott-Orr Review) in 2021, concluded that an extra $200–300 million of funding a year for ten years was needed, and recommended changes to the governance of the red imported fire ant response.

A lack of action in response to these recommendations is what led to some calling for this Senate inquiry. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but within weeks of the establishment of the Senate inquiry, state and federal governments finally announced an additional $593 million of funding and a new governance model to oversee this funding. Whatever prompted this belated action, I welcome the new resources to target this significant problem.

The new funding is less than recommended by the Scott-Orr Review, however, the committee was assured by government officials that efficiency savings have meant that the same containment and eradication effort can be funded with the reduced amount. The committee visited the new Caboolture depot as part of the inquiry and it would appear that the ‘horseshoe’ containment ring around Brisbane is now complete. The committee cannot itself verify the adequacy of the renewed funding, but we do believe that an external assessment should be conducted to check that this funding can do everything recommended by the Scott-Orr Review and reach the target of eradication by the time of the 2032 Olympics.

Notwithstanding this funding boost, there has been less progress on the transparency, governance and coordination reforms needed to eradicate red fire ants. For example, state and federal governments have yet to publish the new Fire Ant Response Plan 2023–2027. There is no logical and coherent reason for this plan to be hidden from the public, especially given how crucial the plan is to the livelihoods of many farmers and small businesses in South East Queensland.

Unlike other biosecurity responses, there is no formal involvement of industry in the response to red imported fire ants. The technical reason for this is that farmers do not contribute levy funds to the response effort. However, those impacted by red imported fire ants (including farmers) do pay the taxes that fund the government departments tasked with the red imported fire ant response. More importantly, the evidence to this committee clearly demonstrated that the private sector has significant experience and on‑the‑ground know-how that should be used to guide a more effective fire ant response. Our committee echoes the recommendations of the Fire Ant Suppression Taskforce Plan to more formally involve private industry in response efforts.

Similarly, there is under-utilised expertise in the academic and private sectors that could improve eradication efforts. To date, the red imported fire ant response has been too tightly held within government departments without the wider involvement of other government agencies, universities and the private sector. To highlight just one example, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has been provided just $100 000 per year across ten years to conduct research on red imported fire ants. Our committee recommends the establishment of Red Fire Ants Cooperative Research Centre that could provide public funding, and attract private resources, to improve our methods of eradicating red imported fire ants.

This report finds that there is a severe lack of transparency in the plans to eradicate red imported fire ants, and more cooperation with the non‑government sector should be undertaken to ensure that any governmental response is leveraging off the widest amount of knowledge available.

This report recommends reviewing funding arrangements and allocations to ensure that the funding is adequate to eradicate red imported fire ants and investigate other models that would improve delivery and transparency in any eradication program.

Red imported fire ants pose a significant risk to Australia’s productivity and it’s imperative that all Australian governments act quickly before they spread past the point where eradication is still possible.