Rotorua councillor attempts to halt fluoridation works

Director-general of health Dr Diana Sarfati and Rotorua Lakes councillor Robert Lee.

A Rotorua councillor has failed in a fresh bid to halt work enabling drinking water supplies to be treated.

Robert Lee says he believes Rotorua Lakes Council faces no “imminent threat” of fines for not complying with a Government order to fluoridate the city’s central and eastern water supplies, and wants a new cost-benefit analysis done after costs doubled.

It comes as the Ministry of Health is “actively considering” making fluoridation orders for six of the district’s other supplies.

In 2022, Rotorua was among 14 councils directed to fluoridate specified drinking water supplies, with the goal of improving dental health.

The council has until March 28 to do this or risk significant fines.

In a meeting last week, councillors voted to sign an agreement with the ministry for funding towards fluoridation capital works and to award a contract for the works.

Staff told councillors that work needed to begin soon to meet the deadline, and the contract needed to be signed by the end of last month or the funding would become “uncertain”, leaving ratepayers to potentially foot the estimated $3 million cost.

The work was previously expected to cost $1.34m, according to a 2022 council estimate.

Non-compliance carried a maximum penalty of $200,000 and up to $10,000 per day for continuing offences.

According to the ministry, no fines have been issued despite two other councils failing to meet their deadlines.

The directives were being challenged in court but remained valid.

During last week’s discussion, councillor Lee called for the funding decision to be deferred a month but was voted down.

He referenced Nazi experimentation in his argument the council would be fluoridating before a Court of Appeal hearing next June. The hearing relates to whether the 2022 directives were a justified limit on the Bill of Rights Act’s right to refuse medical treatment. He linked the right to the Nuremberg Code of medical research ethics that came from war crimes trials of Nazi doctors.

Lee left the chambers before the council voted to sign the agreement.

On Monday, he submitted a Notice of Motion seeking a “pause on the implementation of fluoridation”, including letting contracts, until further approval from elected members.

Lee provided the notice to Local Democracy Reporting after the meeting and said he believed a new cost-benefit analysis should be completed given costs had doubled.

Rotorua Lakes councillor Robert Lee. Photo / Laura Smith

His notice said a recent High Court decision relating to the fluoridation order showed “no council is in any imminent threat of being fined” for not complying with the directive.

The notice said pausing “the implementation of last week’s decision” would allow the council to monitor legal and other developments before taxpayer and ratepayer money was spent.

The council rejected his notice of motion but he raised it as an urgent item in an Infrastructure and Environment Committee meeting on Wednesday, saying it was in the public’s interest and for transparency.

Committee chairwoman Karen Barker said the notice was assessed and declined for opposing a previous council decision. Barker said she and the governance team viewed it as a “direct negative”.

“The contract has already been signed.”

The assessment reads: “To revoke a decision made by council requires a notice to revoke a decision which has not been presented.”

Lee argued it was not attempting to revoke a previous decision.

Barker said, for transparency, the reasoning behind Lee’s notice rejection would be uploaded alongside the committee meeting minutes.

Rotorua rural ward councillor Karen Barker. Photo / Laura Smith

Council chief executive Andrew Moraes said the notice was also submitted too late.

Local Democracy Reporting sought Ministry of Health response to the notice and Lee’s comments.

A spokesperson said the ministry funding was contingent on the council meeting obligations under the contract and the ministry expected the council to meet the compliance date.

The ministry had $23.3m over 10 years to 2026-27 to fund the capital costs of implementing fluoridation, and was supporting affected local authorities, none of which had been fined for non-compliance.

Director general of health Dr Diana Sarfati had informed 27 local authorities they were being actively considered for a direction.

“These water supplies remain under active consideration, however the director general is taking time to allow consideration of the impact of several wider factors, including reform across the water services sector, and service delivery pressures across the local government sector,” the Health Ministry spokesperson said.

Dr Diana Sarfati is the current director general of health. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

They said in making the 2022 directions, the director general considered factors including the effectiveness of adding fluoride to drinking water in preventing dental decay and whether the benefits outweighed the cost.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said community water fluoridation had long been recognised as a safe, effective and affordable way of preventing tooth decay.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.