Page 2739 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 1991
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seriously lacking in credibility in this Assembly for doing such a thing. What he is trying to do - which is to put this matter off until after the next election - simply is not going to work. The fact that the Minister has tried to do this is an indication of the lengths to which he will go in order to make sure that people receive their compulsory dose of one part per million of fluoride, regardless of the will of this Assembly and regardless of the unanimous recommendation - five to nil - by the five members of the Social Policy Committee.
Mr Berry stood up and said that there had been a lack of consultation about Dr Kinloch's amendment to reduce the level from one part per million to 0.5. The lack of consultation has obviously come from Mr Berry. This is obviously a last-ditch, last-hour attempt to prevent this Assembly from taking the action that was recommended by the people on the committee and that is also the majority will of this Assembly. And Mr Berry says that it is on our heads. I personally think the attempt is deplorable. I do not think it has fooled anybody in this Assembly or anybody listening in the gallery; nor will it fool people when they read about it.
This particular Bill does two things: One, it prevents a referendum being held; and, two, it provides for the amount of fluoride in the water supply. It is obvious that in the last decades the amount of fluoride ingested by individuals in the ACT has increased greatly. I could go through the extensive scientific literature reproduced within this report that details the build-up of fluoride in an entire range of foods, and the natural fluoride occurring in various products, particularly seafoods, certain teas and others; but I think it will suffice to say that it is obvious and we all know that fluoride has been in the water supply in Canberra for 25 years.
In that time, it is not just a matter of people drinking the water. They eat bread which has been made using fluoridated water. They eat tinned foods which have been made with fluoridated water in many cases. There is a whole range of foods that have obviously caused an increase in the total intake of fluoride. Yet the Labor Party would suggest that everyone else in the Assembly is wrong in taking at least the logical step of reducing it, if not the sensible step of ensuring that it does not go in at all.
If Mr Berry is concerned about the amount of fluoride that is added or the tolerances of the equipment out at Stromlo, I suggest that we can very easily solve the problem by not forcing anybody in Canberra to take fluoride in their drinking water or the food chain until, let us say, March next year. I am perfectly happy to agree to not force anybody to take it. That would certainly solve the problem. That would not create problems with how much we are adding.
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