Biodiversity, Health, Animal Welfare

Red Imported Fire Ants and Australian electorates

If allowed to spread across Australia, fire ants could cost households $1.03 billion, cause 570,800 medical visits and 30 deaths every year. The electorates most likely to be impacted are Durack (WA), Mayo (SA), Blair (QLD) and O’Connor (WA). Eradicating fire ants should be a major budget and policy priority.
by Rod Campbell and Minh Ngoc Le

Authors

Rod Campbell

Research Director

Minh Ngoc Le

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Red Imported Fire Ants have the potential to cause significant environmental, social and economic damage.

Almost all of Australia, except highland areas of Tasmania and the Snowy Mountains, provides a suitable habitat for fire ants.

They can survive floods, and are able to spread into bushfire affected areas, which means their spread is likely to increase with climate change.

Fire ants were first detected in Australia in 2001 at the Port of Brisbane and in nearby suburbs.

Despite more than 20 years of containment efforts, fire ants remain a growing threat.

In 2023, a large outbreak in southeast Queensland spread beyond containment lines, and in 2024 fire ants were detected in parts of northern NSW.

Modelling shows that, by 2035, fire ants are expected to reach the Murray–Darling Basin.

FIRE ANTS AND COMMONWEALTH ELECTORATES

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