Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for his question and I acknowledge his longstanding interest in the health of Aboriginal communities. Substance misuse, including petrol sniffing, has been a source of illness, death and dysfunction in many remote communities. In some Indigenous communities, I know that petrol sniffing is continuing to have devastating consequences, causing harm particularly to children and young people. Sniffing can lead to behavioural and social problems, and sniffers can end up with serious and irreversible brain and organ damage.

A proven strategy to reduce petrol sniffing, supported by government, is replacing regular unleaded fuel with low-aromatic fuel. However, in some locations, a minority of fuel retailers are reluctant to switch to low-aromatic fuel. Governments' efforts to roll out low-aromatic fuel where there is a community need to reduce sniffing is hampered by fuel retailers that refuse to voluntarily stock the fuel. I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the good work of Senator Siewert in initiating legislation to deal with these few retailers unwilling to sell low-aromatic fuel. I did not support the legislation at the time because I actually thought it was the states' job, but it allows me to deal with those few fuel retailers by designating an area as a low-aromatic fuel area. I believe this will help reduce the potential harm of petrol sniffing.

I need to stress that using powers under the act is a last resort. Every effort is made to negotiate with fuel retailers to voluntarily switch to low-aromatic unleaded fuel. Last week, I used powers under the act to designate areas in and around Tennant Creek and Katherine in the Northern Territory as low-aromatic fuel areas. I took the same action on Palm Island last November. It is great to see that in places like Robertson River the residents are now also supporting the use of low-aromatic fuel in their region. It is now illegal to supply, transport or possess regular unleaded petrol for supply to a person in these regions. I have taken this serious measure in order to stamp out the scourge of petrol sniffing. (Time expired)