Vince Cocurullo: Whangārei Mayor comments on New Zealand First's new Members Bill which seeks mandate binding local referendums on water fluoridation

The Whangārei Mayor believes more people will accept a decision around water fluoridation - if it comes from councils.

New Zealand First's new Members Bill seeks to remove the Director General of Health's central authority on fluoridation - and mandate binding local referendums.

It comes as Whangārei District Council's under fire - as the only council refusing to fluoridate under current mandates.

Mayor Vince Cocurullo says told Francesca Rudkin Whangārei's never fluoridated and is probably due for a referendum.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New Zealand First have introduced a bill to restore powers
of fluoridation back to local communities. Their decision to fluoridate
drinking water currently rests with the Director General of Health,
but the bill would allow locals to decide what they
want in their water through binding referendums. Fung Ray is
the only one of fourteen councils not to fluoridate it's
water since the government's twenty twenty two directive. Mayor Vincent

(00:23):
Cocarilla joins me. Now, thanks for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Vincent, good morning, How are this morning very good?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thank you? Are you happy to see this bill put
in the ballot.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I think it's a very good step forward. I have
to say that it's great to have a central government
backing behind local government again.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Why should this decision rest locally?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, Look, it's one of those things, especially with fluoridation,
there's a lot of controversy that a lot of people
with strong opinions from both sides and what it in days.
By putting it back to the people, it actually gives
the people to start the say whether people like the
decision at the end of the day. It's sort of
like when you have a binding refereeingdum it makes it
very clear that the community have spoken. So whichever the

(01:07):
decision may be, the community has spoken and the community
accept the decision. When they're when the decision is imposed
on them, they are always going to rebel from it.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
How do you think fan I would vote in a referendum?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh, now that's a very hard answer on that one. Look,
I have I have heard from both sides of the sense,
and I have had very passionate people from both sides
of the sense, both in the medical and non medical
side of things, and both have very clear views and
opinions about it.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Are the options that mean that everybody gets what they
want when it comes to this debate.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Look, by allowing as I said, by allowing the community
to have a say, actually makes the decision back onto
the community, so they actually take ownership of it. That's
what the big thing is, and that's why when you
impose something onto a community you will always get people
resenting the government for it. Whereas you if you give
them the decision and give them the power to actually

(02:09):
make that call, they generally accept what has been decided.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
But have you got on it?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
May not like it?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, except this so yeah, exactly. So, Look, if fluoridation
gets put into place where you are, have you got
an option for people that don't want it? If it's
not put in place, is there another option there for
people who do want it?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
And that's something that the councilor has to decide when
that time comes. At this present moment, we have we've
never floridated inny Fang today ever so, and this has
been through a referendum in two thousand and two, so
we've actually been through that process a while ago, and
it's probably a good time to redo that referendum and
it's probably a very good smart idea.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
About Was it about sixty five percent sied no in
that referendum.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, that's correct, and it was a lot of good
counselors at the time actually were quite surprised by the result.
They thought it the other way.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Have you got in trouble for not doing this once?

Speaker 2 (03:04):
The interesting thing is we have broken no laws at
the present moment. And to say the same thing as
many some of the other councils who have been asked
to thaorroidate haven't actually started sauroidating either. So as of
the twenty eighth of March. That's when the mandate actually
has to happen. Until then, we've still broken broken no laws.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, so it's getting It's getting close, isn't it. How
content Yeah? How contentious do you think that this bill
will be?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Look, I I don't know about central government. I don't
know how they will all or political parties will vote
on it. I can't answer that one either. Whether it's contentious, yes,
I do, And again I do say it's because there
are very passionate people from both sites.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
You're spoken to other councils. Are they happy with this
bill as well?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
There are a lot of councils who are very very
happy and the main reason is because they actually would
prefer to have their community have a say as well.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Thanks, appreciate your time this morning. Nice to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
That was Faday Mayor Vince co Courio there talking about
New Zealand First have introduced a bill to restore the
powers of floridation back to local communities.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
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