Fire ants found in new south-east Queensland housing development

Australia Broadcast Center

02-05-2025

Potentially deadly fire ants have been discovered in yet another new housing development in Queensland.
Two nests were killed by direct injection after being discovered at the Harmony Estate in the emerging Sunshine Coast suburb of Palmview, an hour and a half's drive north of Brisbane, on Tuesday.
National Fire Ant Eradication team members have scoured this Palmview park.
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ABC News: Jennifer Nichols
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In the last 12 months, all nine new outbreaks outside the biosecurity containment boundary, have been on housing development sites.
They include Palmview, North Arm, Currimundi, Nirimba, Cedarton, D'Aguilar, and Meringandan West in Queensland's south, and Wardell and Murwillumbah in northern New South Wales.
Palmview resident Jenny Boyes is worried about the fire ant discovery.
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ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols
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New Palmview resident Jenny Boyes is worried for the families in her fast-growing estate, about a 15-minute drive from the beach, if the outbreak is not contained.
Having "run" from fire ant nests while house-sitting in Logan, where the swarming ants are now a constant menace, she is concerned they could spread in her suburb.
"There's a lot of children in the area — it is a concern, we need to get rid of them,"
Ms Boyes said.
Ants in building materials
The National Fire Ant Eradication Program is engaging with developers, including at Palmview, where a pest management inspection uncovered the nests.
The invasive insects can travel in material like mulch, turf, potted plants and soil, transported to work sites.
Fire ants' venomous bites can cause reactions ranging from pustules to, in extreme cases, severe anaphylactic shock and even death.
Kaleb Wilson was hospitalised after being attacked by fire ants in the Scenic Rim.
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Supplied: Ebony Britton
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National Fire Ant Eradication Program compliance director Tom Roberts said DNA testing was underway to determine the source of the Palmview outbreak.
"We've done tracing, and we've also commenced treatment out to 500 metres, as well as further surveillance to find any undetected nests in the area," he said.
Where outbreaks occur, treatment teams are required to return repeatedly, spreading fire ant growth retardant as a precaution.
Reece Pianta is a fire ant expert from the Invasive Species Council.
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Supplied: Invasive Species Council
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Qld 'can't go on alone'
Ahead of the federal election, Invasive Species Council spokesperson Reece Pianta said it was "really disappointing" that both major parties had failed to promise extra funding to manage fire ants, which had infested more than 850,000 hectares.
"Queensland can't go on alone on this, this is a national problem," Mr Pianta said.
"If fire ants spread and get out of control, everywhere that humans and animals are able to occupy in Australia is able to support fire ant infestation.
"So it's going to be a problem for the whole country."
Of the 1-million-hectare fire ant biosecurity zone, 650,000 hectares are in the suppression zone.
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Supplied: National Red Imported Fire Ant Education Program
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The aim remains to eradicate fire ants by stopping their spread and exterminating them by working inwards from the outer edge of the infestation.
Funded by federal, state and territory governments, a fire ant eradication zone 10 kilometres wide stretches from Caboolture north of Brisbane, west to the food bowl of the Lockyer Valley and south to near the New South Wales border.
But within that is a 650,000-hectare suppression zone, funded solely by the Queensland government, where residents under assault from fire ants on farms and in backyards have been crying out for help.

Mr Pianta said the Sunshine Coast outbreaks were the "legacy" of a gap in resourcing.
In March, Queensland's Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett announced a $24 million funding boost over two years to assist landholders in the suppression zone.
It will help businesses like turf, nursery and landscape suppliers by providing drone and helicopter drops of fire ant growth retardant.
Palmview residents are being urged to report any fire ant sightings.
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ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols
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Mr Pianta said in-kind federal funding would have enabled more support to help local councils and property owners treat their land and raise community awareness.
He said if eradication failed, "the burden on our health system and on our economy is going to run into the billions of dollars per year".
The ALP and LNP were contacted for comment.
Fire ants were found in the fast-growing Harmony estate at Palmview.
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ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols
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National Fire Ant Eradication Program inspectors are still searching bushland, parks, gardens and children's playgrounds at Palmview.
When a new biosecurity zone is formally declared around the latest outbreak, it will severely impact turf farms, nurseries and landscape suppliers within a 5km radius.
They will be required to change management practices and treat their properties with expensive chemicals as a precaution.
It will limit who turf businesses can sell to because the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has banned turf grown in Queensland's fire ant biosecurity zones from being transported over the border.