Page 1516 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 27 September 1989
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Mr Fricker said the council working party had investigated matters linked to cancer, Down's syndrome, kidney function, allergies, birth defects and RSI, and found no tie to fluoridation.
Mr Fricker said people who did not like fluoride could purify their own water. A disease caused by fluoride, fluorosis, was only attributable to excess fluoride and was "very uncommon".
I refer to those two recent publications in the Canberra press, Mr Deputy Speaker, because the issue is one which has had very little opportunity for public discussion and public consultation. If one goes through the newspaper files, one will see that, contrary to the normal interest in the ACT in social issues, on this particular matter there has been very little opportunity for discussion. I think that the Canberra community will be very disappointed if this Assembly lends itself to legislation by stealth, social change by stealth.
What I find very difficult to comprehend is the attitude of the Residents Rally party, which has continually stressed its supposed commitment to consultation with the community in relation to matters of importance. I would take the opportunity to refer the Assembly to, and to remind members of the Residents Rally party of, some of the things which they have said in their policy document. The very first sentence in the policy statement of the Residents Rally says:
Self-government has been foisted on the ACT without real consultation.
The emphasis here for the Residents Rally party is clearly that, if they were in a position to determine this, then they would ensure that there would be consultation. Such a proposal is totally inconsistent with the attitude that they are taking in relation to this draconian legislation which is before the Assembly today.
The policy which is headed "Welfare, Social Justice and Ethnic Affairs" commences with the wording:
The Residents Rally for Canberra is fully committed to consulting with the residents of Canberra at every level.
How can we reconcile these sorts of pledges with this behaviour that we have seen here today on the part of the Residents Rally party? I have taken the opportunity to leaf through the policy of the Residents Rally party in other areas and there is one constant theme, Mr Deputy Speaker, which continues to emerge throughout their policy, and that is a commitment - I should now say "an alleged commitment" - to community consultation, which is clearly totally absent from their commitment to support this
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