Road blocks and truck stops are being utilised on the NSW-Queensland border to keep out a major environmental threat that could devastate livestock regions of NSW – the red imported fire ant.

Teams from NSW Police, Heavy Vehicle Regulation Authority, and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) are currently undertaking random compliance checks of heavy vehicles entering NSW from Queensland to stop the spread of this invasive species.

Spending $95 million, the Government’s plan is to prevent fire ants from taking hold in NSW by raising awareness amongst communities and businesses on both sides of the border, and establishing a community-wide monitoring effort, so that any infestations are identified early and then quickly eradicated, NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said.

“We’ve taken a risk-based approach. When the risk moves higher, we’ve made hard decisions, like suspending turf or hay movements,” Ms Moriarty revealed.

“Our Fire Ant Teams are working hard with other agencies to keep fire ants out of NSW. Swift response, focus and agility is required as we must keep going because this threat requires diligence,” she added.

The Government’s team for conducting this sixth wave of Operation Victa brings together biosecurity specialists, vehicle regulators, Police and Transport officials to pull over vehicles and check their compliance credentials and inspect their loads and vehicle condition.

Over five previous waves, 382 heavy vehicles have been stopped, with 14 vehicles returned to Queensland under individual biosecurity directions for failing to meet entry requirements, plus issuing 13 penalty notices and three warnings.

This follows the NSW Government’s suspension of turf being moved from Queensland Fire Ant Infested Areas into NSW in November last year. The Government then cracked down on the movement of hay after the near cyclone period in April, suspending any movement of hay into NSW from Queensland.

“We also call for vigilance in the community which is critical to the success of our program. We thank those community members whose quick actions calling our hotline have led to the state avoiding potential problems.

“As I’ve said many times, fire ants aren’t marching into NSW, they’re being carried,” Ms Moriarty said.

In February this year the NSW Government ensured that two Queensland businesses were prosecuted and then separately convicted in the NSW Local Court for breaching biosecurity regulations and in total ordered to pay $60,000.