Fire ant biosecurity zones

Fire ants are a dangerous imported pest that can severely damage the environment, our outdoor lifestyle, and the agriculture and tourism industries.

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program recently added 19 suburbs of the Moreton Bay region to the fire ant biosecurity zones. This means controls are in place for the movement of specific organic materials within and outside the zones to help prevent the spread of fire ants in Australia.

Anyone working with or moving organic materials need to be familiar with these zones. Some examples of organic materials include mulch, quarry products, turf and potted plants.

Suburbs included in the zones are:

If you deal with materials that may carry fire ants (fire ant carriers) and the material has been sourced from a suburb within the biosecurity zones, you must follow the compliance requirements. Use the Fire ant compliance advice tool for detailed instructions.

Fire ant carriers include:

• soil (clean or contaminated)
• animal manure
• hay, straw or sugarcane
• potted plants
• product and by-products of mining or quarrying or excavation activities, for example, chitters, coal fines, coal stone, decomposed granite, gravel, overburden
• product and by-products of plants or processing of a plant, for example, mulch, sawdust, green waste, compost, turf.

Requirements for suppliers of organic materials to Council

Before delivery to any Council site can be made, Council requires organic material suppliers to provide confirmation they meet Biosecurity Queensland fire ant compliance. Suppliers will be required to complete a Fire ant zone supplier compliance verification form(PDF, 184KB) as part of Council's procurement process. 

If organic material has been stored in or comes from a declared fire ant zone, suppliers will need to provide Council with a copy of their fire ant management plan.