NSW's top farming body has called for "round the clock" action on the Queensland border to stop the spread.
Farmers are calling for a state border crackdown to stop the spread of dangerous fire ants into northern New South Wales.Fiji resort linked to suspected drink poisonings revealedThe pests can cause immense environmental damage and have no natural predators in Australia.Remaining Bali Nine members 'relieved and happy' to be back in Australia
NSW Farmers Association biosecurity committee chair Tony Hegarty said it was clear the state government needed to take radical new action to protect communities and farmers from the potentially deadly pest. "From round-the-clock border checkpoints to detection dogs monitoring state lines, all options need to be on the table to stop fire ants from blazing across the NSW border," Hegarty said.
"The Natural Resources Commission found that if fire ants were allowed to spread the costs could be $60 billion over 30 years to Australia – or $2.2 billion a year – meaning the cumulative combined damage would be half of that of the COVID shock in 2020-21.""People in the north of the state are pulling their hair out, this is a serious threat not just to farmers but to our very way of life," he said.
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