Fire ants: report within 24 hours
Under Queensland's Biosecurity Act 2014 s 42, anyone aware of fire ants must report them as soon as practicable, and within 24 hours. Report to Biosecurity Queensland, online or by phone, and keep away from the nest: disturbed fire ants swarm and can sting multiple times. Call 000 if a person who's been stung struggles to breathe, or their face or throat swells.
Who licenses pest work in Queensland?
Queensland Health issues the pest management licence needed to apply pesticides or fumigants on a commercial, fee for service basis. It's endorsed for urban pest control, timber pest control or fumigation, or a mix, with extra endorsements for pest birds, sensitive places and high-risk places. A licence lasts up to 5 years.
Termite work also comes under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), which licenses it as building work. Anyone supervising or doing QBCC chemical termite work must hold the Queensland Health licence as well.
The law reaches offers, not just the work. Under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 s 45, nobody may offer to carry out pest management for a pest business unless they, or someone they employ, holds a pest management licence.
The two licences side by side
| Queensland Health | QBCC | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Pest management licence | Termite management, chemical or physical class |
| What it covers | Applying pesticides or fumigants for a fee, by endorsement: urban pest, timber pest, fumigation | Chemical: pre-slab and perimeter treatment of new building work, and inspecting and reporting on termite systems and infestations. Physical: installing a termite barrier system to the maker's specification, and inspecting it |
| How to check it | Ask to see the licence and its endorsements; we found no online register | The QBCC register of licensed contractors, published as open data and refreshed daily |
Before a Queensland termite job starts
- Ask for the Queensland Health licence and check it's endorsed for timber pest control.
- Ask for the QBCC licence number and look it up on the QBCC register.
- Look for that number in their ads: a QBCC licensee's advertising must show the name they're licensed under and their licence number.
- The QBCC suggests having a pest controller inspect and report every year, or more often where termites are more active.
Buying a home in Queensland
The QBCC says only a licensed residential building inspector can do a pre-purchase building inspection, and only a pest controller with the right licence can do the termite inspection. One person can do both at once if they hold both licences.
A building inspection isn't a warranty against future defects, the QBCC adds, so check the inspector's licence before you hire. Our pre-purchase inspections page explains what a timber pest inspection looks at.
Possums and snakes are protected
Possums are protected wildlife in Queensland. Only licensed commercial operators may catch one, and they must release it within 25 metres of where it was caught. Queensland Government advice is that another possum nearby often takes the place of one that's been caught, so repairing the entry points is the real fix.
Snakes are protected under the Nature Conservation Act 1992. Keep a licensed snake catcher's number handy and never interfere with a snake; that's a snake catcher's job, not a pest business's.
Other ants and bees you report
Electric ants must be reported within 24 hours to Biosecurity Queensland; their biosecurity zone covers the Cairns, Cassowary Coast, Douglas, Mareeba, Tablelands and Yarrabah council areas. Asian honey bees are prohibited matter, reported within 24 hours on the same number, and Business Queensland says reports in south-western Brisbane in June 2026 were being investigated.
Yellow crazy ants are restricted matter, recorded in parts of south-east Queensland, Cairns, Caboolture, Hervey Bay, Pinkenba and Townsville. None of these is a job for our form. Report them.
Ordinary European honey bee swarms naturally happen in spring to early summer, and swarming bees left undisturbed are usually placid. Business Queensland suggests your local beekeeping club, and says European honey bees and native bees shouldn't be destroyed.
The pest picture across Queensland
Subterranean termites that travel above ground in mud galleries occur throughout Queensland, and so does the West Indian drywood termite. Around Townsville and Cairns, the tropical north adds the giant northern termite, which Business Queensland calls the most destructive subterranean termite.
Fire ants were first detected in the Brisbane area in February 2001 and have spread across South East Queensland. Councils on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and in Toowoomba and Gympie publish fire ant updates, but zones change, so go by the official zone map and the report line rather than a street list.
Further north, towns with the dengue mosquito are prone to dengue outbreaks. It's present in the Rockhampton region and has been found at Gin Gin and Childers near Bundaberg; Mackay's council aims its mosquito control at limiting dengue, and Gladstone's lists the dengue mosquito among local species. Livingstone Shire, home to Yeppoon, has more than 20 common mosquito species. Disease is a matter for Queensland Health, not a pest business.
Renting in Queensland
The owner or property manager must make sure the property has no pests when the tenant moves in and throughout the tenancy, unless the tenant caused them. They can't make a tenant use a particular pest service or product, or pay a set fee for pest control.
Tenants leave the place at the standard it was in at the start, and should follow any reasonable pest control conditions they agreed to as part of a pet approval. Tell the property manager about vermin as soon as you notice it.
Where we'd start with pest control in Queensland
For a termite job in Queensland, we'd ask for two numbers before anything else: the Queensland Health licence with its timber pest endorsement, and the QBCC licence. And if it looked like fire ants, we'd report it to Biosecurity Queensland before talking to anyone.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
