# NSW bans hay imports from south-east Queensland amid fear of fire ants after Cyclone Alfred

New South Wales has temporarily banned the import of hay from parts of south-east Queensland as a precaution against invasive fire ants, which are on the move in large numbers thanks to flooding from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

But the Invasive Species Council said the move is a Band-Aid response and accused the Queensland, NSW and federal governments of dropping the ball in suppressing fire ant numbers within infested areas.

On Friday, the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, announced a one-month moratorium on the group biosecurity emergency permit, which allowed hay to be imported to NSW from lower-risk areas within the fire ant biosecurity zone. It followed the release of video by the Invasive Species Council showing multiple large fire ant colonies forming “rafts” to float in flood waters within the Logan River catchment.

**Global 'super pest': fire ants seen rafting and in nests after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred – video**



Jack Gough, the interim CEO of the Invasive Species Council, said the moratorium was a “kneejerk reaction” to the inadequacy of the national fire ant eradication program to suppress numbers within the fire ant biosecurity zone, which includes greater Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich and the Gold Coast. The plan focuses on eradicating fire ant nests from a containment line around the area, and then marching that line inward until all the fire ants are gone. That effort, says Gough, is where “100% of the money is being spent”.

A  highlighted the failure of the program to also reduce fire ant numbers within the affected areas.

“If the density is high, the risk of movement is going to be high,” Gough said.

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