Two Queensland businesses have been separately convicted in the NSW Local Court of breaching biosecurity regulations designed to protect NSW from red imported fire ants and in total ordered to pay $60,000.

Both businesses illegally moved turf, soil, turf underlay and compost from the Queensland fire ant-infested area into NSW.

Fighting red fire ants has been an important issue in the Northern Rivers since they were detected in 2024 at Wardell and private Byron Bay property.

The NSW Government has increased funding from $15 million annually, to $95 million over four years to combat the problem.

To strengthen the fight against fire ants entering NSW in mid-November last year, the NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty took the unprecedented step of banning the movement of any turf from the Queensland fire ant-infested area into NSW. 

These recent successful prosecutions demonstrate that the Government’s crackdown on rogue businesses potentially spreading fire ants is working and is now sending a message.

The importance of movement controls and the ability of the Minns Government’s restructured NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to trace carrier movements back to their point of origin is producing successful prosecutions.

The first landscaping supply business was convicted on the 29 January and the second on Friday, 7 February.

The first business, Brytarbri Pty Ltd trading as Allenview Turf, was convicted of nine offences after moving soil, turf underlay and compost into NSW from the Queensland fire ant infested area without the required biosecurity certificates.

The second business, Marlyn Compost, was convicted of 20 offences under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 for moving turf from the Queensland fire ant infested area into NSW without certificates.

Early detection surveillance is continuing across NSW’s border state agencies with detection cameras and operations with Police and Department of Primary Industries and Regional NSW teams working together as exemplified by Operation Victa. 

So far, four waves of Operation Victa have resulted in eight penalty notices issued and three warnings after stopping 352 vehicles, 156 of which were from fire ant infested areas, and ordering 12 vehicles back to Queensland, due to not meeting certification requirements.

In addition, fire ant sniffer dogs are on patrol in Kyogle and Tweed Valley sites to monitor trucks, landscaping sites and target properties.

The NSW Government’s fire ant team has completed the following since December 2023:

• Checked 1,366 voluntary community reports of potential fire ant sightings
• Received 12,750 Record of Movement declarations from businesses
• Undertaken with 1,613 surveillance events

NSW Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW, Tara Moriarty said, “The Minns Labor Government is serious in stopping fire ants getting into NSW and in the three instances when they have got through the nets we have eradicated them quickly.

“There will be no sympathy for a business who flouts our biosecurity controls and threatens our state’s land, homes and farms with fire ants. The full force of the law will be instigated to show this is very serious and will not be tolerated.

“I urge everyone to do the right thing and comply with our biosecurity requirements to protect NSW from fire ants, or if you know someone is flouting the controls please let us know.

“We are applying monitoring, CCTV, police, sniffer dogs, controls and border checks to address the fire ant situation as well as supporting the Queensland Government eradicate their infestation.”