Labor’s stand-in Agriculture Minister Dr Anthony Lynham was full of bluster but very short of answers on fire ant management in Queensland Parliament this week.
Asked a simple, common sense question on treatment protocols, Dr Lynham clearly had no idea and instead stooped to nasty, personal attacks.
LNP Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Dale Last said the Palaszczuk Labor Government yet again seemed to be mismanaging the Fire Ant eradication program.
“My office has been contacted by farmers, landholders and park rangers all concerned about the protocols being used by this government in firstly, identifying, and then the serious delays in treating fire ant nests,” Mr Last said.
“Dr Lynham, in his new role as Labor’s revolving-door Minister for Agriculture, might think it’s smart to bluster and criticise, but the four, six and eight-week delays between identifying and then treating these ant nests are simply ridiculous.
“You would have thought Dr Lynham would have taken a legitimate and reasonable question about this exotic pest seriously.
“Sadly no. The farmers and landholders around Rocky Point, the Lockyer Valley and Logan who have contacted my office are rightly concerned over the mismanagement of the fire ant program as these pests continue to spread.
“The facts show that Labor has been in charge of this program for the best part of two decades and the ants just keep spreading.
“It really is no wonder given the attitude of the Ministers in charge, including the latest stand-in who loves the self-promoting photo ops but when it comes to any serious consideration or management becomes invisible.”
Mr Last said fire ants were not hard to identify and why the government continued to send out teams of staff to identify and flag, but not treat for many weeks defied logic.
