Published on 27 June 2024
Council has seen yesterday’s High Court judgment by Justice Radich on an application by New Health New Zealand asking for a judicial review of NZHC 196, about directives issued by the Director General of Health to 14 councils, including Waitaki District Council, to fluoridate water supplies.
In his judgment yesterday, Justice Radich has not made any ruling about the directives. This means he did not stop the directives of the Director General of Health to fluoridate water supplies. He also did not prevent the Director General of Health from being able to take enforcement action against councils who did not follow the directive.
This means the directives and the legislation supporting it are still valid.
The directive of the Director General of Health has been tested in court three times in the past five months and on all three occasions, the judge has ruled that the directives remain valid. The previous decisions can be found in our Fluoridation FAQ here.
Council must obey the law as it is. We still must do what the directive of the Director General of Health instructs and fluoridate the Oamaru drinking water supply.
We invite the community to read the full judgment attached below:
24/06/24 New Health New Zealand v Director-General of Health NZHC 1717(PDF, 122KB)