December 15th 2024.
Farmers in northern New South Wales are raising concerns about the spread of dangerous fire ants into their region and are calling for stricter border control measures to be put in place. The invasive species, known as red imported fire ants, were recently discovered in NSW after crossing over from Queensland in a shipment of lawn turf.
These fire ants have already infested over 83,000 hectares of land in Queensland, with some areas located very close to the NSW border. Thankfully, all infestations found in NSW have been successfully eradicated so far. However, the potential damage that these pests can cause to the environment is immense, and they have no natural predators in Australia. This raises serious concerns about the potential impact on the country's economy, with experts estimating that the cost could reach tens of billions of dollars if left unchecked. To make matters worse, their bites can also be fatal to humans.
Tony Hegarty, the chair of the biosecurity committee at the NSW Farmers Association, believes that the state government needs to take bold and immediate action to protect communities and farmers from this deadly threat. He suggests implementing 24-hour border checkpoints and using detection dogs to monitor state lines as possible solutions. According to the Natural Resources Commission, if fire ants are allowed to spread, it could cost Australia $60 billion over the next 30 years, equivalent to $2.2 billion per year. This amount is almost half of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021.
Hegarty expresses the frustration of farmers who feel that the current biosecurity measures in place are not enough to keep their crops and livelihoods safe. He states that people in the northern parts of the state are becoming increasingly worried about the situation and are quickly losing faith in the government's ability to protect them. This not only affects farmers but also has a significant impact on their way of life.
In conclusion, Hegarty urges the NSW government to take more proactive steps in protecting the state from the spread of fire ants, rather than just responding to incursions as they occur. As a precaution, he encourages the public to stay up to date with the latest news and developments by downloading the 9News app, which provides notifications on breaking news, sports, politics, and weather. The app is available for download on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
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