Before the election, I met with Sarah McGuire and other concerned landowners and introduced our fire ant policy. Sarah is a knowledgeable advocate for landowner rights and understands the fire ant eradication program details.

Landholders in SE QLD need more control over fire ant measures on their properties.

One Nation supports stronger efforts to eradicate fire ants, and believes working closely with landholders is key.

We’re calling for local workshops and tailored biosecurity plans. Landholders should have the right to refuse government programs if they can show effective alternatives.

Policy Release

Landholders should have more control of measures to manage and eradicate red imported fire ants on their properties and more assistance to comply with difficult biosecurity requirements.

One Nation Senate candidate for Queensland Malcolm Roberts said local farmers in the southeast Queensland were struggling with difficult fire ant restrictions imposed by authorities which impacted their profitability.

“Landholders in southeast Queensland need more control over what happens on their properties with regard to fire ants,” Senator Roberts said. “While One Nation supports a stronger overall effort to contain and eradicate red imported fire ants, we believe these efforts would be more effective if authorities worked more closely with landholders rather than just imposing blanket restrictions and rules for everyone.

“We’re calling for a series of local landholder and farmer workshops at which they can work with authorities and decision-makers directly and troubleshoot these issues. We’re calling for the development of individual fire ant biosecurity plans, approved by the landholder, tailored to the unique operations of every property. Implementing and complying with these plans would be the responsibility of the landholder.

“Local landholders should be able to refuse government baiting and chemical programs provided they are able to demonstrate other effective control methods with the support and guidance of authorities, and ensure fire ants cannot spread. For those who have had the pest successfully eradicated, authorities should be able to quickly provide certification to this effect and remove unnecessary restrictions on the movement of produce from these properties.

“Landholders also have concerns about the dangerous nature of some chemicals being used by the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, and want alternatives that directly target fire ant nests rather than blanketing their entire properties with these pesticides.”

Senator Roberts said One Nation would give landholders more control over eradication efforts on their properties.

“Our policy will support individual biosecurity plans for each property, with responsibility for compliance resting with the landholder,” he said. “They have every reason to ensure a pest-free property, and should be helped (and supported with funding if necessary) to implement them and comply with them. One Nation also plans to vigorously pursue questions into the effectiveness of the NFAEP, with a focus on landholder concerns, when Parliament resumes after the election.

“We will also investigate options for farmers whose profitability has been impacted by fire ant eradication to be compensated for their losses.

“One Nation has always supported the right to farm. One Nation has always known that farmers are the ones who know their land best, and how to best look after it. The NFAEP and biosecurity authorities risk alienating the very landholders they are trying to help with this heavy-handed top-down approach that ignores the wealth of expertise farmers and landholders possess.”