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A strait, a border, the edge of a zone: five of the rules for an Australian home change at a line, and what applies depends on your side of it.
Lines are drawn from the places each source names; the regulator’s map is the boundary.
Bed bugs
Victoria’s Department of Health puts the tropical bed bug mainly north of the NSW and Queensland border and the common one mainly to its south, with some overlap between the states.
Source: Victoria’s Department of Health, bed bugs and pest control.
The National Construction Code’s Part 3.4 requires termite management where subterranean termites are known to present a risk of attack.
Its explanatory note to clause 3.4.1(1) says termites are not considered to be a risk in Tasmania, and a lesser risk in parts of Victoria.
In Queensland, termite advice, reports and system installations need a technician licensed by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, reached on 139 333.
Fire ants were first detected in Australia in Queensland in February 2001, and nests have since been found across South East Queensland in an area estimated at 600,000 hectares (Business Queensland, last reviewed February 2022).
They crossed the border on 23 November 2023, found at South Murwillumbah in New South Wales, with further incursions at Wardell and Tweed Heads South.
In Queensland, report a sighting to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program on 132 ANT (13 22 68) within 24 hours; in New South Wales, the state Biosecurity Helpline is 1800 680 244.
The Biosecurity Regulation 2016 lists the red imported fire ant as category 1 restricted matter and points to section 42 of the Biosecurity Act 2014 for the particular reporting obligations tied to that category.
The European wasp has not established a permanent population in Western Australia since 1977, and 1,765 colonies have been destroyed to 2026.
The wasp is now firmly established in the Sydney area.
The Sydney funnel-web’s main range runs from the Central Coast in the north to the Georges River in the south, and west to Baulkham Hills.
For a bite, the first-aid steps are on healthdirect’s spider bites page.
Queensland’s Biosecurity Regulation makes an electric ant biosecurity zone: a person must not move an electric ant carrier from a place in that zone that is not a lesser restrictions area, with one exception for a listed waste facility.
A live electric ant must not be moved from the zone, or kept outside it or in a lesser restrictions area, without a biosecurity authorisation.
In Queensland, anyone who finds ants they suspect to be electric ants must report them within 24 hours, online or by phoning Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23.
Suspected exotic ants can also be reported to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.
Source: National Construction Code 2022, part 3.4; National Construction Code 2025, part 3.4; Queensland Health, seeking pest management services; Outbreak, red imported fire ant; Business Queensland, fire ants in Queensland; DPIRD WA, European wasp; Australian Museum, European wasp; Australian Museum, Sydney funnel-web; healthdirect, spider bites; Queensland legislation, Biosecurity Regulation 2016; Outbreak, report a pest.