The CSIRO says it only received $100,000 in funding a year to combat the highly invasive pests despite pioneering research into their management
Red imported fire ants pose a major threat to Australia’s native species and agricultural industries, a Senate committee has heard.Red imported fire ants pose a major threat to Australia’s native species and agricultural industries, a Senate committee has heard.
Rose was one of many witnesses who called for more funding towards eliminating the extremely damaging pest, which has now spread to more than 700,000 hectares in the Brisbane region amid a spate of recent detections in northern New South Wales. “We only manage 50% of the continent,” he said, referencing the amount of Australian land dedicated to farms and agriculture. “You’ve got to involve us.”
“This is being done in a targeted fashion at very low doses in ways that aren’t comparable to the broad scale use of fipronil on crops. They are just such wildly different scales of use,” he said.