Scientific body given just $100,000 a year to fight deadly fire ants, Senate inquiry told

Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) pose a major threat to Australia’s native species and agricultural industries, a Senate committee has heard. Photograph: Minden Pictures/Alamy

Australia’s leading scientific research body received just $100,000 a year towards combatting fire ants, a Senate inquiry into the highly invasive pests has heard.

At the third and final session of public hearings for the Senate inquiry on Monday, the committee’s chair, Senator Matt Canavan, said some of the evidence he had heard had “freaked [him] out”.