Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to raise the issue of the way fire ants are being managed in my home state of Queensland. There's been a lot of discontent in my local community outside of Brisbane about the indiscriminate spraying for fire ants. While I support the fire ant program and that we must eradicate fire ants, I think we would be much better off spending our time eliminating identified fire ant nests, rather than indiscriminately spraying properties and other areas. That can impact things like bees. I know the beekeeping community is very worried about this. I urge the Queensland state government to stay focused. I know there are places south of Brisbane, around Logan and places like that, where there are an enormous number of identified fire ant nests. Go and eliminate the identified fire ant nests first, rather than wasting time spraying areas that have no identified issues.