In Queensland, if you work with materials that could carry fire ants (fire ant carriers), you must make sure you're meeting your general biosecurity obligation (GBO). Our compliance officers visit businesses and private properties to check that you're doing the right thing and to help you become compliant.
Who can be audited for compliance
We can audit anyone in Queensland who works with materials that can carry fire ants. We decide who to audit based on:
- public reports
- information from local councils
- our community and industry engagement activities
- the type of work your business does or material you’re dealing with
- investigations into outlier detections.
What to expect
We can conduct compliance audits at any time. We don’t always let you know we’re coming.
When we arrive, we'll go over an acknowledgement of consent for entry form with you. The form explains the reason for the visit and what happens when we're there. We'll ask you to review it and sign it.
Our compliance officers will have a body-worn camera attached to their clothing. They'll explain what it is and why it's being used.
We'll then ask questions about your work and the following 4 areas of compliance.
- Production/processing: Explain how you disturb your materials and how often.
- Storage: Describe how you prevent flying and crawling fire ants from infesting your material.
- Treatment: Specify which treatments you use to keep fire ants away from your products, and how often you treat them.
- Surveillance and record keeping: Show records that demonstrate that you're mitigating the risk year-round.
See our advice on the obligations and how to meet them.
Finally, we take photos of the worksite and copies of your records.
What happens if you're non-compliant
Our main aim is to work with you on becoming, and staying, compliant.
We take a risk-based approach to how we respond to non-compliance. This means we use more serious responses for more serious risks.
Advisory notice
An advisory notice is a letter that explains:
- what you're doing that isn't compliant
- what you need to do to become compliant
- an agreed time to do it.
We often use these for minor non-compliance issues, especially if it was unintentional.
Directions and biosecurity orders
Under section 237 of the Biosecurity Act 2014, our compliance officers can:
- direct you to take reasonable steps to remove or eradicate biosecurity matter (fire ants) and carriers (materials that can carry fire ants)
- destroy fire ants or carriers if they believe that it poses a significant biosecurity risk.
Under section 373, our officers can issue you with a biosecurity order. This is a legal direction to tell you to follow your biosecurity obligations. They can do this when they believe that you have failed to follow your biosecurity obligations, or that you will fail to do so. The order can include:
- what you must do to follow the biosecurity obligation
- a time, or stated intervals, when the authorised officer will check compliance.
If you do not comply with a direction or a biosecurity order, it's an offence. You can be fined or prosecuted.
Penalty infringement notices (PINs)
Authorised officers can issue PINs to individuals or corporations, including businesses, for certain offences under the Biosecurity Act 2014. There are 6 offences that relate to fire ants:
Offence | Penalty |
|---|---|
Failure to discharge a person’s general biosecurity obligation by failing to comply with the carrier movement and storage regulations | 7 penalty units for an individual or 35 penalty units for a corporation |
Failure to carry a biosecurity instrument permit when acting under that permit | 1 penalty unit for an individual or 5 penalty units for a corporation |
Failure to comply with a direction from an authorised officer | 1 penalty unit |
Failure to render assistance to an authorised officer when requested | 1 penalty unit |
Obstructing an authorised officer | 1 penalty unit |
Failure to comply with a biosecurity order | 7 penalty units for an individual or 35 penalty units for a corporation |
As of 1 July 2024, one penalty unit is $161.30. The value of a penalty unit is prescribed in the Penalties and Sentences Regulation 2015.