Tomorrow from 11:30-12:00 pm NSW time, Simon Mulvany from Save the Bees Australia and myself (Kate Mason from Community Voice Australia) will be speaking to Senators on the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, regarding the government response to Varroa, to better inform governments approach to Fire Ants.

We want to thank all of you who signed this petition. I know many of us have petition fatigue, but it's been very useful for informing people on what's going, as well as our efforts to hold the NSW and Federal governments accountable, as well as the Private Partnerships who were also involved.

For those who don't know the situation: mid 2022 we were told Varroa mite was found in Newcastle NSW, State government and associated bodies implemented zones and killed bees. Over time the zones got larger and larger until at least 40,000,000 bees were killed and Fipronil was laced through the environment.

I met Simon a little over a year ago. I had seen in my local paper that the government was going to start putting Fipronil in traps in bushland, farms and neighbourhoods to kill "feral" bees. I was very disturbed and I put something on Save the Bees FB page to ask if anyone knew anything about Fipronil. Simon and I connected at this point, and with other NSW bee keepers started campaigning, educating and writing to government to raise questions and concerns.

Simon and I very much welcome the opportunity to spell out the concerning aspects to the government's Varroa Mite measures. Simon and I will be speaking NSW time 11:30am-12pm tomorrow.
Please tune in to support us.
https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen