Petition asks Gympie council for fluoride U-turn as My Place celebrates

The fight over fluoride in a Qld council’s water supply is surging on with former councillor launching a counter petition asking for a rethink while a controversial right-wing group celebrates having ‘awake’ representatives.

The fight over fluoride in Gympie’s water supply is surging with former councillor Bruce Devereaux launching a counter petition asking for the region’s council to rethink things while members of a controversial group celebrating it have called supporters “numptys”.

The fight over fluoride in Gympie’s water supply is surging with a former councillor launching a counter petition asking for the region’s council to rethink things while members of a controversial group celebrating it have called supporters “numptys”.

Mr Devereaux’s Change.org petition, which in 48 hours has drawn more than 100 signatures, calls on the council to perform a U-turn on its decision to end its water fluoridation program.

Councillors voted six-to-three at Wednesday’s meeting against continuing the program.

Deputy Mayor Dolly Jensen, Mick Curran and Warren Polley called for it continue.

The council stopped short of removing fluoride from its water entirely thanks to a technicality.

Removing it from the water would cost ratepayers about $100,000.

Fluoridating the region’s water supply costs the ratepayers about $255,000 each year.

The decision has divided segments of the community, with some calling it a win for “people power” and others criticising the council for making such a major decision on the back of a petition of 600-odd residents, about 1 per cent of the region’s population.

The decision drew a swift rebuke from the state branch of the Australian Medical Association, which called it “disappointing”.

Mr Devereaux says in his online petition the “benefit of fluoridation is clear, and the arguments against it primarily focus on, at worst, corrupted or fabricated facts, and, at best, who should bear the cost of fluoridation, local or state governments”.

Former councillor Bruce Devereaux has launched a counter petition asking for the region’s council to rethink things.

“In the latter case, debates over which level of government should pay for fluoridation should not affect a community’s health outcomes by terminating the current delivery process without any clear path forward to replace it,” Mr Devereaux says.

“Let’s not risk the dental health of our community, particularly our youngest & most vulnerable residents, who heavily depend on fluoride for cavity prevention.”

Mr Devereaux’s petition comes as members of the region’s My Place community celebrate the council’s decision.

One post on the page, which locked to non-members, said they had “seen it on the (Gympie) information page”.

“It was met with anger from the usual numptys in town they obviously love the coolade (sic),” Mr Gould posted.

Several other members celebrated the region “looks like Gympie has quite a few councillors that are awake”.

Mr Devereaux’s petition comes as members of the region’s My Place community celebrate the council’s decision.Photo: iStock

My Place Gympie page administrator Craig McManus said the group “worked hard in the election process to support candidates that are prepared to work for the people, not the Qld government”.

“The honesty of the majority of councillors is to represent the best interests of the people of the Gympie region over the demands of the Qld government.”

Wayne Pevitt told the page’s 1200 members to “remember the names of the councillors who voted not to remove it and make sure they are voted out of a job”.

Another member asked lead petitioner Marcel Claassens, who lost the Division 2 election race to Mrs Jensen, if chlorine in the water was to be the next petition.

The controversial group was brought into the spotlight at the March local government elections amid claims it members were secretly trying to infiltrate Queensland’s councils.

The groups’ founder Darren Bergwerf denied this was the case, saying My Place was “a gathering group, across the breadth of our country, of concerned Australians that are not at all happy with the way our country is being run”.

“There is no lack of transparency on our part,” Mr Bergwerf said in March.

Originally published as Petition asks Gympie council for fluoride U-turn as My Place celebrates