Fire ant biosecurity zones are in place to help prevent fire ants from spreading through human-assisted movement.
Fire ants move quite slowly on their own, but people speed them up.
Our fire ant biosecurity zones help prevent the human-assisted spread of fire ants through the movement of materials that can carry fire ants.
Fire ant biosecurity zones interactive map
Type an address to find out if the property is in the fire ant biosecurity zones.
If any part of the property shares a boundary with one of these zones, the entire property is considered part of the zone.
Having issues using our interactive map or want to learn more about how the zones affect you?
- View an image of the fire ant biosecurity zones (JPEG, 4MB)
- View and download the fire ant biosecurity zone map
On this page
Summary of the fire ant biosecurity zone changes
Queensland’s fire ant biosecurity zones are reviewed and updated monthly to align with the Interstate Plant Quarantine (IPQ) zones. The changes will reflect the latest fire ant detections and will help reduce the risk of human-assisted spread of fire ants.
The shift from regular reviews of the fire ant biosecurity zones to monthly aligns with our Fire Ant Response Plan 2023–2027. These changes will:
- reduce confusion regarding intrastate and interstate movement restrictions
- provide a more targeted approach to fire ant management. The new fire ant biosecurity zones will extend 5 km beyond known fire ant detections, rather than the biosecurity zones following suburb boundaries
- reduce restrictions on residents and businesses who are not at risk of moving a fire ant as they are well beyond 5 km from an infestation. Using suburb boundaries was appropriate when the infestation was predominantly in urban areas with smaller suburbs, but with the infestation now in rural areas including much larger suburbs, there are mismatches between the boundaries of the IPQ and fire ant biosecurity zones
- allow a more rapid response to control the spread of fire ants as biosecurity zones will be updated monthly.
What are fire ant biosecurity zones?
There are 2 fire ant biosecurity zones.
- Zone 1 covers suburbs that have received or are scheduled to receive fire ant eradication treatment.
- Zone 2 covers suburbs yet to receive eradication treatment.
New suburbs may be added to the zones each month, while others may change zones.
If you rely on software that uses suburbs to determine your location in relation to the fire ant biosecurity zones, consider using our interactive map.
New suburbs
Some suburbs are labelled as 'partial' because the entire suburb is not covered within our fire ant biosecurity zones.
If the address you are looking for is in one of these suburbs, we recommend using our interactive map at the top of the page.
This map will help you determine whether the address is situated outside or inside our biosecurity zones.
July 2024
- Gatton (increased coverage)
- Lower Tenthill (increased coverage)
- Upper Tenthill (increased coverage)
- Placid Hills (partial coverage)
- Winwill (partial coverage)
- Woodlands (move from partial to full suburb)
August 2024
- Mount Berryman (increased coverage)
- Thornton (increased coverage)
September 2024
- Ma Ma Creek (increased coverage)
- Ropeley (increased coverage)
- Thornton (increased coverage)
- Upper Tenthill (increased coverage)
- Winwill (increased coverage)
July 2024
- Austinville (increased coverage)
- Baringa (move from partial to full coverage)
- Beachmere (increased coverage)
- Beerwah (increased coverage)
- Bells Creek (increased coverage)
- Bilinga (increased coverage)
- Bonogin (increased coverage)
- Burpengary East (increased coverage)
- Caloundra West (increased coverage)
- Cashmere (increased coverage)
- Clear Mountain (increased coverage)
- Closeburn (increased coverage)
- Coochin Creek (increased coverage)
- Deception Bay (move from partial to full coverage)
- Draper (move from partial to full coverage)
- Joyner (increased coverage)
- Kooralbyn (increased coverage)
- Kurwongbah (increased coverage)
- Landsborough (increased coverage)
- Little Mountain (increased coverage)
- Pelican Waters (increased coverage)
- Whiteside (increased coverage)
- Yugar (increased coverage)
August 2024
- Aroona (full suburb)
- Austinville (increased coverage)
- Battery Hill (full suburb)
- Birtinya (partial coverage)
- Bokarina (full suburb)
- Bonogin (partial to full suburb)
- Bribie Island North (partial coverage)
- Caloundra (full suburb)
- Caloundra West (increased coverage)
- Closeburn (increased coverage)
- Currimundi (full suburb)
- Dicky Beach (full suburb)
- Dundas (partial suburb)
- Golden Beach (partial suburb)
- Kerry (increased coverage)
- Kings Beach (full suburb)
- Kooralbyn (increased coverage)
- Lake Manchester (increased coverage)
- Little Mountain (increased coverage)
- Meridan Plains (increased coverage)
- Moffat Beach (full suburb)
- Numinbah Valley (increased coverage)
- Palmview (partial suburb)
- Shelly Beach (full suburb)
- Springbrook (increased coverage)
- Tallebudgera (increased coverage)
- Warana (partial suburb)
- Wurtulla (full suburb)
- Yugar (move from partial to full suburb)
September 2024
- Banks Creek (increased coverage)
- Kooralbyn (increased coverage)
- Lake Manchester (increased coverage)
- Oaky Creek (increased coverage)
- Palen Creek (increased coverage)
- Rathdowney (increased coverage)
- Running Creek (increased coverage)
- Tamrookum Creek (increased coverage)
What does this mean for you?
Fire ant biosecurity zones apply to anyone who deals with materials that can carry fire ants, sourced from inside the zones. This includes such as soil, hay, mulch, manure, quarry products, turf, and potted plants.
This means that you must:
- check the fire ant biosecurity zones before moving these materials
- employ fire ant-safe practices when moving or disposing of organic materials within the fire ant biosecurity zones (Biosecurity Regulation 2016).
If you are unable to do so, you must apply for a biosecurity instrument permit.
Penalties can apply to individuals and businesses seen or reported doing the wrong thing. Noticed someone doing the wrong thing? Let us know by calling 13 25 23 or using our online form.
