MAY 22 2011 Page 15ST

thesundaymail.com.au 15NEWSthesundaymail.com.au SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

will spread to you

Digging deep: Biosecuritydog Mikey digs where he hasfound some fire ants nesting,showing his owner LibbyThornton.Picture: David Kapernick

$US1.2 billion ($1.1 billion) ayear is spent on containing fireants, said eradication had notbeen achieved anywhere, andUniversity of NSW entomol-ogist Dr Chris Orton hascalled for an independent as-sessment of claimed successes.

Biosecurity Queenslandfire-ant eradication programdeputy director Craig Jenningsinsisted Queensland could stillwipe out the pest.

An estimated 65,000 colon-

ies were detected when fireants were first found in 2001,but last year that was down toabout 500 colonies.

Mr Jennings said the strat-egy could now shift fromlarge-scale treatments to sur-veillance and more targetedtreatments.

The number of fire-ant staffhas grown from 100 workersfive years ago to 190 staff –less than half the number onthe program in 2001.

David Murray

Claims of cover-upleft unanswered

Downplayed: Pam Swepson claims the State Governmentunderstated the spread of fire ants to ensure further funding.Picture: Adam Armstrong

WHISTLEBLOWER PamSwepson, the State Govern-ment’s former senior policyofficer on fire ants, haswarned of major Queenslandmismanagement of the pro-gram that will come at aheavy price.

Dr Swepson made a com-plaint to the Crime and Mis-conduct Commission in 2003alleging her reports werechanged to understate thespread of fire ants.

Federal and interstate gov-ernments who were providingthe bulk of funding were notinformed of fresh outbreaksand reinfestation of treatedareas, she alleged.

‘‘Eradication was the magicword. If they suddenly turnedaround and said it was acontrol program, then it nolonger attracted the funding,’’Dr Swepson said.

But by hiding the problem,the Government missed itsbest chance to control thespread of fire ants, she said.

Her claims have effectivelynever been investigated as the

CMC gave the complaint tothe department.

While her complaint al-leged the State Governmentconcealed the fire-ant prob-lem, the department investi-gators looked only at whetherprogram managers reportedfacts up the chain internallyand found they had.

The career public servantwas declared redundant inwhat she believes was retali-ation and is now working inthe private sector.

‘‘I went through five or sixyears of a very difficult time,having my work taken awayfrom me, given no one toreport to, given no work to do,to force the department todeclare I could make novaluable contribution.

‘‘But there was no optionbut to do what I believed wasthe right thing to do.’’

Recent floods would likelyflush out and spread undis-closed and undetected nests,she warned. ‘‘I suspect we’regoing to see an outbreak offire ants this summer.’’

murrayd@qnp.newsltd.com.au

Cameras take eradication to the skiesKelmeny Fraser

World-first: The camerawith infra-red power.

THEIR bodies measure just afew millimetres long, butQueensland’s best hope ofdiscovering fire ants could befrom more than 100m above.

The State Government willlaunch a new weapon tostamp out the fire-ant pest – a$1 million remote sensingcamera with infra-red powers.

In a world first, the fightwill take to the skies in July tosearch for lingering infes-tations using thermal imagingand aerial photography. The

launch will mark a transitionfrom large-scale treatment tomore targeted eradication.

Testing began in 2009 andfire-ant eradication programdeputy director Craig Jen-nings said the camera wouldbe in use within months afterfavourable trial results.

‘‘We know our treatmentworks, we know we can killthem, so the big challenge isto find them,’’ he said.

Attached to a helicopter,the equipment can search750ha of ground a day forfire-ant mounds from about

120m above. Thermal imag-ing would be used to identifyareas where the ground tem-perature differed from its

surrounds, which would thenbe cross referenced againstphotographs designed toshow areas matching theshape of ant mounds.

Similar technology hasbeen trialled in the US, butproved less effective due tothe high density of infectedareas there. US fire-ant ex-pert Dr Bart Drees saidunusually shaped fire-antmounds and thick vegetationhad proved problematic forremote sensing equipment.

fraserk@qnp.newsltd.com.au