CHEERS of victory erupted from councillors and the public gallery when the Fraser Coast Council voted to scrap fluoridation.

Just two years previously, the former State Government outlaid $2.4 million to install fluoride equipment in the Fraser Coast.

On Wednesday, an 8-3 vote decided to put that equipment to rest.

Fraser Coast Mayor Gerard O’Connell, his deputy Trevor McDonald, and Cr Rolf Light stood against the tide.

Cr McDonald and Cr Light admitted they voted for keeping the additive partly out of protest, labelling the State Government irresponsible for not making a final decision.

Cr O’Connell saw it a different way: “I was disappointed we had to make a decision which I have spoken about before.

“There it was on our agenda, clearly a state issue, we have spent a lot of time talking about it since Lawrence Springborg made his announcement in November.

“I took everybody’s advice, and you can imagine how much we got, but the advice I subscribe to is that fluoride can be controlled and the advice from the ADA, medicos, and others in the sector pointed to it preventing tooth decay.

“Simply put, I find it difficult to believe that every other state in Australia is poisoning its people.”

The mayor said he believed the annual cost of $165,000 was not factored into any councillors’ decision.

He said instead the vote was about the additive’s health benefits weighed against the risk.

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