Fire Ant Eradication: Who's Counting the Cost? With Sarah McGuire & Dr Conny Turni on The Big Issue.

Fire Ant Eradication: Who's Counting the Cost?

We've seen this before - Overzealous Government officials trampling the rights of citizens to achieve what might appear on the surface to be a laudable public policy objective but which on closer examination - is ultimately impossible and even extremely harmful. Think Covid19, think Net Zero, think Renewable Energy and now you can add to the list The National Fire Ant Eradication Program. Individuals and scientific experts questioning the objective and high cost of this program have been bullied, arrested or declared conspiracy theorists. Some have been broken and communities have been divided. And again, mainstream media willingly engaged in this demonisation without asking the obvious questions. Why and who benefits?

Our panelists today have first hand experience of a crazy national program, funded by taxpayers. They are part of a growing group of people with legitimate questions and more importantly, offer a way forward - Government of course isn't listening.

Mike Ryan Host

GUESTS:

Sarah McGuire is a Samford Valley resident, accountant, and piano teacher who became a public spokesperson on fire ant policy after aerial pesticide spraying was carried out over her community, including areas without confirmed fire ant activity. She helped commission independent water testing that led to regulatory action for environmental breaches and has since advocated for lawful, evidence-based fire ant management that respects environmental safeguards, property rights, and public accountability. Sarah is the founder of Fire Ant Treatment Alternatives. Through this work, she has highlighted expert concerns about the scientific feasibility of eradication under current blanket treatment methods. Professor Joshua King has written an open letter to Australia stating that eradication is not achievable using these approaches, and Sarah has also spoken directly with Professor Nigel Andrew, who has raised similar concerns about the effectiveness and ecological impacts of broad scale pesticide use. Sarah has spoken on ABC and 4BC Radio about these issues.

Dr Conny Turni is a senior scientist working for 22 years in the field of microbiology, researching respiratory disease causing bacteria in the intensive livestock industries. I have published 87 papers, two book chapters and 78 conference papers in my area of expertise. I have a little farm in the Somerset region which never had fire ants. In 2022 my little farm was sprayed with s-methoprene without me being informed and in my absence. I was not told what was sprayed and the concentration use, all the information I need for our Spray Smart Licence. As a consequence all the green frogs on my property died together with smaller frog species and our native ant species. As frogs are an indicator of the health of the environment, I have become very concerned about this fire ant eradication program and have done a comprehensive literature review contradicting the statement of safety for the environment of this program.

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