The venomous pest, which is native to South America and has colonised the southern United States, has made its way to Australia several times through international shipping and is capable of forming colonies in 99 per cent of mainland Australia and 80 per cent of Tasmania.

Fire ant control is the responsibility of state and federal agriculture ministers. Last year the ministers topped up funding for the eradication program, which is helmed by Queensland’s Agriculture Department, by $600 million over the four years to 2027.

Helen Scott-Orr, a former federal inspector-general of biosecurity who reviewed the national eradication program being led by the Queensland government in 2021, told the inquiry earlier this month that nearly double that amount, or up to $300 million a year, was needed.

The Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis submission was prepared for the NSW National Resources Commission. It found the combined damage to agriculture and recreation and tourism would exceed 1.5 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product, the silent cost to the environment would be 1.3 per cent of GDP, totalling 2.8 per cent of GDP.

The federal Environment Department told the inquiry in February that native animals could be killed by fire ants.

Loading

Arboreal animals such as koalas would be stung and killed by ants as they travelled across the ground, the department said.

Defenceless nest-bound hatchlings of native animals are particularly vulnerable, such as platypuses and short-beaked echidnas, while turtles and birds that nest low in trees or on the ground, were also at risk.

Fire ants also tunnel through root systems and damage plants, and pose a particular threat to horticulture crops.

Livestock productivity would also suffer, with fire ant stings posing the greatest threat of mortality to the young of sheep, cattle, poultry and other animals.