In Queensland Water fluoridation is the responsibility
of each Local Council, NOT the State Government
or the Federal Government.
~ HOPE FOR QUEENSLAND ~
EXTRACT:
HANSARD – Page 2991 – 29 November 2012
…That is why we are involving local governments in the decision making process. As I said, I will be talking further in relation to the terms of the amendments when we get to the clauses in the consideration in detail of the bill. However, it is most important that members in the House clearly understand that the recommendations state that the implementation of a decision to fluoridate or not must not affect water supplies to communities in other local government areas without the agreement of those other local governments. Secondly, the cost of implementing a decision of a local government whether to fluoridate or not is to be borne by the local government and not the water supplier. In essence, the local government can make the determination to fluoridate or not, but the cost associated therewith is upon that local government and the impact upon adjacent local governments, if any, is a cost to be borne by the local government that makes the determination…
November 2012, The Queensland Parliament reversed the previous government’s mandate requiring all public potable water supplies serving more than 1000 people to add fluoride to the water.
As a consequence of these changes Local Councils in Queensland NOW HAVE A CHOICE to remove fluoride from their drinking water supplies.
The previous government, under Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, announced on 5 December 2007 that the fluoridation of most of Queensland’s water supplies will begin in 2008. When it was enacted the Water Fluoridation Act 2008 required the addition of fluoride to any water supply supplying potable water to at least 1000 members of the public, unless an exemption is granted based on safety or naturally occurring levels that meet the required levels. Prior to this legislation Queensland was the only Australian state without a formal statewide program for the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
The Water Fluoridation Regulation 2008 listed 134 drinking water supplies that were to be fluoridated by 31 December 2012. Of the drinking water supplies listed in the Regulation, 32 comprised the SEQ Water Grid located in Southeast Queensland. The fluoridation of these supplies by the end of 2009 accounted for the largest increase in people currently receiving fluoridated water in Queensland (approximately 2.6 million people in 2006 or 68% of the Queensland population). Prior to the requirement to add fluoride in 2008 the towns of Biloela, Dalby, Gatton, Mareeba, Moranbah, and Townsville had been adding fluoride to their drinking water – some since 1972, though some of these towns stopped adding fluoride prior to the Water Fluoridation Act. (One town did not inform the Queensland Gov. or the local residents and dentists. No body is empowered to poison the city’s water supply. We can only guess how that would have throne out the statistics.) Before the current legislation the addition of fluoride to water supplies was regulated by the Fluoridation of Water Supplies Act 1963.
Several areas of Queensland, such as Julia Creek, Quilpie, Thargomindah and Adavale are known to have naturally occurring fluoride present in their drinking water, a characteristic that has been studied since the 1920s...
See also – Aboriginal health
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