I was prompted to look at the replay of last week’s Council Meeting by the shock announcement on ABC television that Gympie would cease the fluoridation of the city’s water.
I must admit that I haven’t watched Council Meetings for quite some time.
And I soon remembered why.
They are a trigger for depression!
The awful waste!
It is a bit like a puppet show, with the puppeteer being present only in voice and occasionally with his hands showing.
Is that the CEO largely setting the direction of proceedings and setting parameters?
No reassurance there.
And the Mayor, obviously wanting to get the cessation motion passed, referred to an ‘organisation’ that needed to be appeased.
No wonder a Councillor at one stage asked, ’Where are we at?’ (sic.)
Anyway, last Wednesday the Meeting was split over the propriety of making a decision on ceasing fluoridation of the city’s water without consulting the community that consumes and uses it.
As it is a community health matter with the potential to affect the dental health of generations, one would expect that there would certainly be very significant community involvement.
But some Councillors do not share that view.
Crs Jensen and Milne both argued strongly for community consultation.
But Cr Milne’s motion to let the proposal to discontinue fluoridation lie on the table pending some survey of public opinion on the matter was soundly defeated.
The concept of accountability to their constituents is clearly beyond the intellectual and moral grasp of the majority of Councillors.
Cr Curran repeatedly assured the meeting that several Councillors would not be swayed by the wishes of the public and that, therefore, public consultation would be a futile waste.
What an indictment of those Councillors!
How can they take the money they are paid for representing the people?
As he finally voted in favour of Cr Milne’s defeated motion, Cr Curran was clearly not among the intransigents.
But strangely, at one point, when it was made clear that Council had been advised by three invited dental experts to continue with fluoridation, he lamented that Council had not sought the advice of a couple of dental professionals who were opposed to fluoridation.
Are there any?
There were elements of farce, too.
One Councillor suggested spending the savings from the cessation of fluoridation on an ‘education campaign’.
Another waxed lyrical on the virtues of a healthy, vegetable diet and Councillor Lahn, in probably her clearest contribution to the ‘debate’, advised that toothpaste is $1.50 at the supermarket.
I wondered who did her shopping.
For Cr Jensen, the decision to go ahead and ban fluoridation would revive the ‘Helltown’ image of Gympie that we all hoped to have put behind us.
She also expressed her reluctance to appease ‘conspiracy theorists and sovereign citizens.’
Was it this remark that prompted Cr Curran’s pious offer that ‘We must be respectful’?
I wondered if he meant to the community too?
Given that Councillors clearly regard community consultation as being as difficult and expensive as a space probe (have they been ‘snowed ‘ by the mysterious’ organisation’?), I suggest that they each hire a hall and invite their constituents to express their wishes in regard to the matter of fluoridated water.
The cost would be minimal, and the results a validation of a momentous decision.
This decision of Council will affect the dental health of generations.
The community cannot allow it to be implemented without comprehensive investigation and justification.
I urge you to contact Council urgently to express your views.
– Merv Welch,
The Palms.
