Page 18 MAY 29 2011ST

thesundaymail.com.au18 NEWS

Ant staffers‘indifferent’Kelmeny Fraser

Shaky ground: Sunday Mail coverage lastweek of the fire ant issue.

A PROGRAM to eradicate fire ants wasdoomed to fail because it relied on field staffwith no motivation to unearth new infestations,a former team leader claims.

Ron Nash (pictured) spent years working forthe State Government’s fire ant program, attimes supervising up to 80 field staff.

He said that hiring the long-term unem-ployed to search for the pest at the peak of

the crisis proved ‘‘virtually devastatingto the program’’.

‘‘The Government hired peoplewho were virtually unemployable,’’

Mr Nash said. ‘‘At least 60-75 percent of the young people hadn’t

worked before (and) weren’tinterested in working.’’

Enthusiastic field work-ers struggled with motiv-

ation after more than ayear of searching with-out finding a single nest,sources said.

Former senior gov-ernment policy officer

on fire ants, whistleblowerPam Swepson, said wide-

spread aerial baiting had been

recommended as the best chance of stoppingfire ants but had been rejected by the StateGovernment amid concerns of a public back-lash, leaving the job to field workers.

A government source told The Sunday Mailthe limited aerial baiting that was conductedsparked dozens of public complaints and amore extensive program would have triggereda mass outcry over the perceived health risks.

Last week the LNP pledged an independentreview of the fire ant eradication programshould it win office.

Biosecurity Queensland control centredeputy director Craig Jennings said a rapidrecruitment and selection process was requiredto fill more than 500 positions in the earlystages of the fire ant program, but said theworkforce had proven dedicated and effective.

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Mosquitovaccinesoff to USKathleen Donaghey

A BRISBANE scientist whodeveloped four potentially life-saving vaccines has beenforced to sell his technology tothe US.

Dr William Ardrey createda dengue vaccine and WestNile virus vaccine as well asgenetically engineered pro-teins for Hendra and RossRiver vaccines.

Australia’s famed Gardasilcreator Professor Ian Frazerwas a scientific adviser tothe project.

As warnings intensify aboutthe spread of killer diseases,including the southern mi-gration of dengue, the vaccinetechnology is now in Ameri-can hands because Australiawould not support it.

Dengue is consideredQueensland’s greatest tropicaldisease threat.

The risk of it hitting south-east Queensland is consideredhigh as rainfall intensifiesand more people install rain-water tanks.

Council inspectors dis-covered a dengue mosquitoegg in Gin Gin earlierthis month.

Growing threat to BrisbaneAGENDA P54-55