{"id":168259,"date":"2025-09-25T14:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T14:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168259\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T14:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T14:08:11","slug":"gympie-regional-council-votes-to-remove-fluoride-from-towns-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168259\/","title":{"rendered":"Gympie Regional Council votes to remove fluoride from town’s water supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

A south-east Queensland council has become the second region in the state to scrap fluoride from its water supply in less than 12 months.<\/p>\n

The move has alarmed health experts and reignited the debate over whether the choice should have been taken out of the council’s hands.<\/p>\n

Gympie Regional Council made the decision on Wednesday after more than a year of debate within the council, and 15 years of adding fluoride to the region’s water supply.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Queensland handed individual councils the power to choose whether to fluoridate their water.<\/p>\n

In February, Cook Shire Council in the state’s Far North also voted to remove fluoride, while the Cairns council voted not to reinstate fluoride in their water supply in December last year.<\/p>\n

Fluoride costing ratepayers thousands<\/p>\n

Of the state’s 77 local government areas, only 23 have fluoridated water, although the majority of the state’s population is covered because the entire south-east has fluoride.<\/p>\n

Gympie councillors voted five to three to end the measure on Wednesday, in a decision the mayor said would save ratepayers $255,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Mayor Glen Hartwig said fluoridation cost council a half per cent rate rise.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Glen Hartwig says council is not pandering to conspiracy theorists. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“If the state wants it mandated, that’s their decision \u2026 but they should also cough it up,” Mr Hartwig said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think we’re pandering to the conspiracy theorists. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and we should have a respectful conversation in a democracy.”<\/p>\n

Adding fluoride to drinking water is supported by major health and medical bodies, including the Australian Dental Association and the Australian Medical Association.<\/p>\n

Under Queensland law, the council must give residents 30 days’ notice before it can begin the decommissioning process.<\/p>\n

The council expects this to be complete by June next year.<\/p>\n

In February, Cook Shire Council in the state’s Far North also voted to remove fluoride<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts alarmed by move<\/p>\n

University of Queensland dental expert Michael Foley was scathing of the council’s decision.<\/p>\n

“Water fluoridation is one of the no-brainers in public health,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It saves vastly more money in dental treatment costs than what it costs to implement.<\/p>\n

“Any council implementing water fluoridation will pay a little bit of money but their residents will save a lot more money and save dental care treatment costs from childhood through adulthood.<\/p>\n

“Almost every other every town and city in Australia outside Queensland drinks fluoridated drinking water.<\/p>\n

“It should be a state government responsibility as it is in every other Australian state.”<\/p>\n

\"Older<\/p>\n

Michael Foley says having fluoridated water is a small cost to pay to protect oral health. (ABC Brisbane: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n

Dr Foley said he sympathised with cash-strapped councils making such decisions.<\/p>\n

“They’re good people trying to make a lot of tough decisions but this was not their best decision in a long shot. This was a really poor decision,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The great majority of regional Queenslanders do not enjoy the benefits of water fluoridation, and as a result they have the poorest dental health in Australia, and that’s really sad.<\/p>\n

“It just staggers me that the government seems unwilling to touch this issue and I have no idea why.”<\/p>\n

Dr Foley said fluoridated toothpaste provided a substantial benefit but there was a greater benefit when the mineral was added to drinking water as well.<\/p>\n

‘For the children’<\/p>\n

Hazel Watts said she was “shocked” when she found out the news.<\/p>\n

“We need to have it in there because it’s for children’s teeth,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Hazel Watts is concerned about the impact of the council’s decision on children. (ABC News: Josh Dye)<\/p>\n

“It’s very expensive to go to the dentist at the moment.<\/p>\n

“I think it should be left up to the federal government to make a decision like that.”<\/p>\n

Gympie councillor Allona Lahn said locals should have the choice of what was in their water.<\/p>\n

“There is many countries around the world that don’t have fluoride, including Europe,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The science isn’t settled and I believe like smoking, asbestos, thalidomide and things like that, the science will prove down the track that maybe it’s not as safe and effective as we’re being told.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Allona Lahn says the council saved money by not doing formal public consultation. (ABC News: Josh Dye)<\/p>\n

She said she had conducted her own community consultation.<\/p>\n

“Overwhelmingly, for myself, people don’t want it and I have gone with my constituents and we’ve just saved $300,000 by not doing public consultation,” she said.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Steven Miles said he was deeply concerned by Gympie Regional Council’s decision.<\/p>\n

“Fluoride is just about the most cost-effective public health intervention you can get,” he said.<\/p>\n

Decision sparks political debate<\/p>\n

Mr Miles said he would blame Premier David Crisafulli if the children of Gympie ended up with “rotten teeth”.<\/p>\n

“He was the local government minister who put this responsibility on council,” Mr Miles said.<\/p>\n

“We chose instead to work with councils and encourage them to make a right decision and during that entire time Gympie did.”<\/p>\n

But that 2012 decision by the Newman government was not changed by Labor either during its almost 10 years in power.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jarrod Bleijie says it is a local government matter. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)<\/p>\n

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie was part of that former Newman government.<\/p>\n

“Local governments make decisions on behalf of the local residents, that’s right and proper, that’s why that position stands,” Mr Bleijie said.<\/p>\n

“They [councils] represent their local communities and it’s best for them to make those decisions.”<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/p>\n

Steven Miles urged the council to consider the oral health of young people. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n

Mr Miles said $255,000 a year was “next to nothing” when it came to the oral health of young people.<\/p>\n

“They will end up putting a much bigger bill on the public oral health service as they have to deal with children with rotting teeth,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Queensland Health should step in and fund it. That’s what we would have done.”<\/p>\n

Mr Miles encouraged Gympie Council to revisit the decision.<\/p>\n

“It’s the children who will suffer,” he said.<\/p>\n

Resident Ann Robertson said she filtered her water because she believed fluoride was a carcinogenic chemical by-product.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Ann Robertson welcomed the decision, despite health experts warning against it. (ABC News: Josh Dye)<\/p>\n

She praised the council’s decision.<\/p>\n

“It’s wonderful, it’s fantastic \u2026 it’s really good for everybody,” she said.<\/p>\n

It will take at least a month for Gympie Regional Council to begin the $100,000 process of removing fluoride from the water supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A south-east Queensland council has become the second region in the state to scrap fluoride from its water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[110259,110253,110258,110255,110256,110252,43,110257,44,110254,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-168259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-fluoride-for-children","tag-fluoride-in-water","tag-fluoride-oral-health","tag-fluoride-water-dangerous","tag-fluoride-water-teeth","tag-gympie-fluoride-water","tag-headlines","tag-is-fluoride-safe","tag-news","tag-queensland-fluoride-water","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}