Kate Retzki and her team from the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program will be joining this meeting to provide an update on the programe.

The National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program is the largest global eradication project ever undertaken, nationally funded by all Australian states and territories as well as the Commonwealth Government. 

The program aims to eradicate this exotic pest, based on expertise shared by international specialists in this field. The program is discovering patterns of ant activity and developing new ways of beating the ants as new challenges arise. So far, the program has contained the spread of fire ants to less than five per cent of what it could have been.

A 10-year eradication plan is underway. Members of the program’s team will provide an update on their progress, future initiatives and interesting insights at our upcoming committee meeting. 

If you would like to join this meeting please RSVP to the AEPMA National office via email info@aepma.com.au or call 1300 307 114

A place where asking the question “Are you ok?” can really work is in the workplace. As employers or staff, we can all create a culture where people feel confident asking and answering this simple yet important question. Besides our legal responsibility of providing a safe and healthy workplace, these conversations can make a real difference to staff going through a tough time.

R U OK? has released new resources to encourage more business leaders, owners and employees to build an R U OK? Culture in their workplace so that everyone feels safe, supported and encouraged. 

The resources, including the R U OK? Workplace Champions Guide, promote peer-to-peer support and regular meaningful conversations amongst colleagues in the workplace.  

More information and workplace resources can be found here

Given the reduction in travel and spending nights in hotels and other venues outside our homes, the chances of being bitten by bedbugs or bringing these uninvited guests home have been greatly reduced.  Wendell Arnett, Territory Sales Manager at Bayer, said “The spread of bedbugs can be likened to a virus, in that they spread via hosts – person to person – usually by travellers moving from one place to another.  The traveller only needs to stay in one hotel or apartment with a bedbug infestation and the bedbugs then get into their open luggage and stay with them for the ride, infesting more and more accommodations along the way”.

Recently, in Melbourne, a city hotel designated as a Coronavirus Quarantine hotel by the Victorian State Government was found to have a bedbug infestation.  Hotel quarantine guests were horrified, however, Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, emphasised what we, as professional pest managers already know, hotel bedbug infestations are caused by travellers, being transported in luggage and is not the fault of hotel management necessarily.  He reiterated “they are part and parcel of the hospitality industry”.

In place of our Environmental Biosecurity Roundtable events for 2020, we are excited to invite you to the new Environmental Biosecurity Webinar series. Many of you would have received the information sent out earlier this month regarding the series which began on Tuesday 28 July.

Each webinar will feature three keynote speakers and explore a particular theme relating to environmental biosecurity.

REGISTER HERE to receive speaker info and your digital invitation and joining details for each webinar as they are confirmed. 

2020 Environmental Biosecurity Webinar Program*

• 29 September: Flora, Fauna and Fire – Regenerating a scorched landscape
• 27 October: Biosecurity risks in focus - Contaminants and commerce
• 24 November:  Biosecurity in our backyard

*Webinar dates are subject to change pending presenter availability.