Cairns fluoride decision data needs more accurate survey: Brett Olds

Councillors who voted against fluoridating Cairns’ water supply are standing by their decision, but the Deputy Mayor agrees “self-selecting” surveys should not have been used to inform their vote.

Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds says a better style of survey, instead of the self-selecting surveys, could be used to inform on decisions such as fluoride.

Councillors who voted against fluoridating Cairns’ water supply are staunchly standing by their decision, but the Deputy Mayor agrees “self-selecting” surveys should not have been used to inform their vote.

But despite raising some concerns with the methods of the Our Cairns Survey, they say they agree with the results of the polling of about 10,500 residents, based on anecdotal feedback they received individually.

In December, Cairns Regional Council by majority vote supported a recommendation which reaffirmed the local government's current position to keep the tooth-strengthening chemical out of the water supply.

It did so on the grounds that oral health was a state government responsibility, there was no “overwhelming” support for or against it, and that there were other methods to deliver fluoride to those who needed it most.

Cairns Regional Council by majority vote supported a recommendation which noted here were other methods to deliver fluoride to those who needed it most. Photo Supplied

The fluoridation issue came under the spotlight after the Our Cairns Survey 2024 results showed the 48 per cent of residents supported adding the chemical back into the water supply, 39 per cent opposed and 15 per cent were neutral.

Deputy Mayor Brett Olds and Division 3 Councillor Cathy Zeiger were among those who voted to keep the council’s current position of no fluoridation, basing their vote on the survey’s results, but noted the process could be improved.

“It was our biggest survey, but it was a self-selecting survey, so only people that are interested or care about are the ones really doing it,” Mr Olds said.

Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds says he’d be interested in looking at randomised surveys to gather data on the community’s take on fluoride in drinking water. Picture: Brendan Radke

“That’s why you have to have randomised surveys, like they do before elections where they phone you up – that’s the only way to get really accurate data, or you hit the pavement and door knock.

“But if you paid someone to randomly call 10,000 people (and ask the questions in the Our Cairns Survey), that would cost a s---load of money.

“But, now that I’m thinking about it, maybe that’s worth us looking at – let’s see what this would cost because it would be the most accurate data.”

Despite this, Mr Olds said through his own doorknocking on the issue, personal feedback he had received was consistent with the survey.

Ms Zeiger said while she was personally against the fluoridation, she too had received “50-50” results through her personal communication channels, but said if the official survey was overwhelmingly in favour, she would have supported reintroducing the chemical.

Cairns Regional Council Division 3 councillor Cathy Zeiger agreed the Our Cairns Survey could have been of a greater base of the city’s population. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Oh look, 10,000-odd people is really not a huge cut of the society with a population of over 160,000 but I was confident with the results of it,” she said.

She said while she was not a conspiracy theorist, she couldn’t vote for what she perceived had been labelled as “a fix everything toxic” chemical in relation to oral health.

Division 2 councillor Matt Tickner said in the absence of an overwhelming community push for fluoridation, there was no “real reason” to join forces with medical experts who had been lobbying the council, in a possible collective effort to call on the state government to take fluoride responsibility.

Dr Eileen Rafter attended to support the pro-fluoride debate.

“We hope that the issues we’re pushing or driving are what the community actually want us to be doing,” he said.

“I would need to see much higher results coming from the community to turn it into an issue that we actually prosecute.”

Mr Olds said he had asked residents who attend a regular “table of knowledge” meeting at Palm Cove if they thought the council should be lobbying the state government to take control of fluoride decisions.

“As a councillor, do I think the majority of Cairns wants us to advocate for the state government to take over this issue, or do we have bigger fish to fry?” he said.

“If we’re going to make big campaigns and take this to the state, when health is already their responsibility, you’ll become white noise quick.”

Originally published as Cairns fluoride decision data needs more accurate survey: Brett Olds