Keith Campbell
October 19, 2016
A State Government announcement that it will look at covering fluoridation infrastructure costs is unlikely to see fluoride reintroduced to the South Burnett’s water supply.
The move, which was announced on Wednesday at the annual LGAQ conference on the Gold Coast, comes after two-thirds of Queensland’s councils – including the South Burnett – stopped fluoridating water when it became optional.
Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk said a similar grant program was cut by the Newman Government.
“I don’t want the infrastructure costs associated with fluoridating water to be a barrier for councils when considering its introduction,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“The Newman Government not only left the decision-making on fluoride to local government, but they left the financial burden to local government as well.”
Ms Palaszczuk said there were many councils, including many Indigenous councils, which never had the opportunity to take-up the capital works funding when the former assistance program was cut.
“My government will look at re-introducing a similar grants program to fund the initial capital works costs for introducing fluoridated water.
“The program will be capped, with priority given to smaller councils with limited financial capacity to shoulder these costs themselves.”
The Premier said she was a strong supporter of water fluoridation.
“My message to Councils is, if you make the decision to introduce fluoride into your drinking water, we will help you pay for the upfront costs – that is my commitment.”
The South Burnett stopped adding fluoride the region’s five water supply schemes in January 2013.
At the time, former Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said the move was a cost-saving measure.
The four former South Burnett councils had spent in excess of $2 million installing fluoridation plants when it was made compulsory in 2007, then paid ongoing costs for maintenance and supplies.
The 2013 decision to call an end to fluoridation was expected to save the Council between $170,000 and $200,000 a year, which was about 20 per cent of its water processing costs at the time.
On Wednesday night South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell said while he welcomed the Premier’s announcement, he doubted it would have any effect on the Council’s fluoride position.
“The only way we could be persuaded to reintroduce fluoridation is if the State Government agreed to pick up all the running costs,” he said.
“I applaud the Premier’s decision to look at helping out smaller councils that want to set up fluoridation systems, but it’s not appropriate for us.
“In an agricultural area where many people have water tanks, the costs of fluoridation simply outweigh any benefits.”
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