Nat candidate with controversial view 'changed mind'

[Lilith7]

Just in time for the election, too. What an amazing coincidence. Anyone with a slightly cynical view might think he'd been told to toe the line.

He sounds so very delightful, too - referring to some of us as 'low socio economics' who according to  him, apparently 'fill our tap water with Raro'


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/4982...BJvrvdnSD8

[b]"The National Party candidate favoured to win the Hamilton East electorate held views directly opposed to the party's leader on fluoridation of water and vaccine mandates.[/b]

Ryan Hamilton has voiced support for groups that spread misinformation about fluoridation.
He refuses to be interviewed but the National Party claims he has changed his mind about the fluoridation of water, after more than two decades of public opposition.
In social media posts, Hamilton claimed Covid deaths data had been inflated and once said poverty was not a reason to fluoridate water because "most lower socio economics filled their tap water with raro".

Hamilton, a Hamilton City Councillor, has consistently and openly opposed fluoridation of water for more than two decades.

In another post, Hamilton praised 'Fluoride Free Hamilton & NZ', a group that has published extensive misinformation about fluoride. In 2016, he said he was "with the minority" in opposition to fluoride and had been for 22 years.

Hamilton's views are in sharp contrast with the National Party he now represents.

He has also described protecting the vulnerable from Covid as "a carefully constructued manipulative guilt inducing narrative". And he suggested data on Covid fatalities reported by coroners "seems set up only to inflate the death numbers for the propaganda machine."

In 2021, he was the only Hamilton City Councillor to oppose not letting the unvaccinated enter some council buildings.
These comments have won him support from groups such as Voices for Freedom, which has a record of fanning misinformation. Hamilton's social media accounts also follow many mis-information spreaders, including a radical fringe political party 'NNP: New Nation Party'.

So what is Hamilton's position on fluoridation, mandates and misinformation now he's representing the National Party? It's unclear.

RNZ's multiple requests for an interview with Hamilton from the beginning of last week have gone unanswered. Instead, the National Party interceded and provided an unsolicited statement in Hamilton's name, addressing the 'raro' comment from 2013 and his track record on fluoridation and mandates.
"I made this Facebook comment a decade ago - it was a rash comment and I apologise. I've opposed fluoridation in the past but now fully back National's position," the statement said."