Venomous fire ants a 'real and present danger' to Australian lives, warns report

Independent review shared with agriculture ministers in May calls for an urgent $38m eradication of invasive insects

Aggressive, venomous red fire ants have the potential to be a threat in even Australia's biggest cities and require a multimillion-dollar, 10-year program to wipe them out before it's too late, agriculture ministers were warned in May.

An independent review into the ant, which is of South American extraction, prepared for a meeting of federal state and territory agriculture ministers in May but made public this week through the Senate, calls for a doubling of funding to $38m a year for 10 years to eliminate the scourge for good.