If the state government drops the ball on fire ant eradication the way they did with the varroa mite, then Australian agriculture will face billions of dollars in costs, potential producer collapse and native species loss, according to industry experts and farmers.
On Monday the Invasive Species Council called for an urgent review of funding for the eradication in response to the news that three nests of red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) had been found at Murwillumbah in northern NSW.
ISC conservation officer Reece Pianta said fire ant funding should be increased in order for the pest to be completely removed from the country.
"There's been a lot of mistakes made over the past 20 years in how fire ant have been handled in Australia and a lot of lessons learned," he said.
"It's a no-brainer, you have to spend the money to deal with the problem now.
"Australia is one of the most successful nations in the world to contain fire ants but now that containment is starting to break.
"We have to get in there with all the resources and get the job done, or we will end up like the United States which faces a $7 billion cost annually due to damage inflicted by fire ants."
Mr Pianta said the catastrophic US failure was a dire warning to Australia.
"In the US fire ants have impacted their cattle farming, horse studs, small crops and the environment, with some populations of snails and lizards now gone," he said.
"Eradication is still possible, but only if Australia's federal and state governments ensure that the level of resources meets the needs on the ground, Australia can't afford our governments wasting more years underfunding the fire ant fight and risking failure."
Mr Pianta said a comprehensive government study from 2021 found that between $200 and $300 million annually would be required over the next 10 years or Australia would face at least a $2 billion cost per year from fire ants forever, yet at the moment the planned funding is only half that amount.
News of fire ants jumping the state border into NSW last week was no surprise to south east Queensland cane grower Greg Zipf, who said the discovery of a nest in Murwillumbah on Saturday was inevitable.
As the Canegrowers Rocky Point chair and a cane grower for more than 30 years, Mr Zipf said the state government response had been an "utter failure".
"I'm surprised they had not got across the border sooner," Mr Zipf said.
"Our cane farm is on 140 ha and we have been dealing with them since 2005.
"There are 55 farmers here in Rocky Point and every one is contained in the biosecurity zone."
Mr Zipf said the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries failure to extinguish the fire ants when they were initially discovered in 2001 in Brisbane had resulted in an expensive and ineffective situation.
"When the original incursion of fire ants were found at the Brisbane Port, the Queensland government biosecurity had every chance to nail those bastards at that point," he said.
"What the current situation highlights and this is blatantly obvious that biosecurity Queensland current practices and plans to eradicate fire ants has failed, and failed dismally.
"And the amount of money thrown at them to eradicate them since it started is absurd and the situation will only get worse unless they change their approach."
Mr Zipf said it was time private contractors under the auspices of DAF were handed the task.
"All that has happened is the criteria has got a lot tougher you have to abide by as the ants have continued to spread."
Queensland Beekeepers' Association Inc state secretary Jo Martin said while it was critical the government departments involved in fire ant eradication work effectively and efficiently together, she believed they would ultimately succeed.
She said her organisation which represented 160,000 colonies of honeybees and 10,0001 registered beekeepers, was concerned about all invasive species which could impact the wider agricultural industry.
However, Ms Martin had optimism that the government departments involved would succeed with assistance from the public.
"I have faith all the collective minds involved in the fire ant response models will put their experience and knowledge and reassess the approach and reaffirm their commitment to eradication," she said.
"At the end of the day be you a beekeeper out in the field or someone at home please report anything suspicious, we would rather have 100 false reports than miss one that is most important."
A spokesperson for the National Fire Ant Eradication Program said they were focusing on strengthening containment and compliance, and intensifying program-led and community treatment using a systematic, outside-in approach.
"The National Fire Ant Eradication Program remains 100 per cent committed to the goal of eradicating fire ants from Australia," the spokesperson said.
"This goal was affirmed earlier this year when the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments unanimously supported the program's new response plan."
According to the NFAEP website, the full Fire Ant Response Plan 2023-24 was unable to be published as it was currently cabinet-in-confidence.
On Monday it was widely reported at a media conference the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had not heard of the fire ant movement in NSW, which the Shadow Agriculture Minister Tony Perrett said was disappointing.
Mr Perrett called for an "an urgent, full and comprehensive investigation by the Queensland Auditor General" on the issue.
