Source : Perth Now news
Barnaby Joyce says the “lifestyle of Australia” is at stake as One Nation backs in action on fire ants ahead of the Farrer by-election.
One Nation has increasingly positioned itself as the alternative party of government following successive bruising polls for the Coalition and after the right-wing populist party secured three lower house seats and 20 per cent of the primary vote in the South Australian election.
Recent polling indicates One Nation will be in a two-horse race for primary votes in the Farrer by-election, a heavily agricultural NSW seat previously held by Sussan Ley where candidate David Farley will go up against Climate 200-backed independent Michelle Milthorpe.
Speaking weeks out from the vote, Mr Joyce said action on fire ants – a globally recognised “super pest” that The Australia Institute estimates could cost $2bn if allowed to spread nationally – was “an important policy for Australia” and for One Nation.
“We believe in the Australian lifestyle and one thing that infuriates us in One Nation is when people focus on things because they’ve been swindled by incredibly good lobbyists and very wealthy people,” Mr Joyce told NewsWire.
The New England MP urged the Albanese government to turn its focus away from net zero, which Mr Joyce said “eats into the budget of things we actually could do, such as control fire ants”.
“If you leave me with the rifles, I can get rid of pigs, deer, and feral dogs,” Mr Joyce said.
“But, I can’t, as a farmer, get rid of fire ants.”
Red imported fire ants are known for their aggressive behaviour and painful stings that can be fatal.
If allowed to spread nationally, fire ants could lead to as many as 30 deaths, according to The Australia Institute modelling
Mr Joyce said agricultural areas, such as the Farrer electorate, were especially exposed to fire ants, with livestock at risk of being “bitten ferociously”, causing stress and ultimately leading to an up to 40 per cent loss in beef industry production “because they can’t stand still”.
“And, so are sporting fields in Sydney,” Mr Joyce said.
“It’s a thing for Port Macquarie, it’s a thing for Byron Bay. It’s a thing for Hyde Park in Sydney. It’s everywhere.”
Mr Joyce said the “whole form of recreation in Australia could change” if fire ants were allowed to spread.
The potential eradication of fire ants was also important because “One Nation is strongest in Queensland”, where the ants were most active, he added.
The National Fire Ant Eradication Program earlier this month updated its fire ant biosecurity zones, already covering much of Brisbane and South East Queensland, to include the City of Moreton Bay, Lockyer Valley Regional, and Scenic Rim Regional council areas.
Eradication efforts are delivered by the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program (NRIFAEP), which is funded by state and federal governments.
“No one’s going to vote for you getting bitten by fire ants and they think you’re somehow responsible for not stopping it,” Mr Joyce said.
“I would say that to the Liberal Party and the Labor Party too, by the way.”
Family connection
For Mr Joyce, the eradication is more than just a policy issue – it’s a matter of family history.
Mr Joyce said his father was involved in the eradication of tuberculosis and bovine brucellosis as a veterinarian.
“They actually did it,” Mr Joyce said.
“This was a time where we had incredibly competent scientists, vets, who actually focused on an outcome and achieved it.
“The eradication of brucellosis from the whole of Australia is an amazing thing.”
Mr Joyce, who served as agriculture minister from 2013-17 under the former Coalition government, also lashed the opposition over their stance on fire ants.
“I don’t know when was the last question from the shadow minister about fire ants?” he asked.
Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough, who sat down with Mr Joyce last week, said he had “productive conversations” with the One Nation renegade.
“I got a strong impression that he is thinking seriously about the need for funding to go into practical environmental action,” Mr Gough said.
He said he hoped Mr Joyce would have “confidence One Nation should be leaning into environmental action and environmental funding as part of the broad suite of things that they talk to”.
He said Mr Joyce was a “champion” as agriculture minister who made eradication of fire ants now possible and said he wouldn’t be involved in “really concerning interventions by some One Nation MPs empowering conspiracy theorists that have been problematic for staff on the ground”.
“I know that Barnaby Joyce has no truck with that sort of response to what is a national emergency that requires all levels of government to be committed, united and supportive of the work that’s needed to get rid of fire ants,” he said.
“So, that was also really positive from my perspective to hear that directly from Barnaby Joyce.”
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has been a vocal critic of the fire ant eradication program.
During a Senate estimates hearing last year, he alleged “overreach and intimidating tactics being used by the states and of breaches of regulations on pesticides” in regard to the program.
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry acting secretary Justine Saunders denied the claims.
