The Australian

THE Federal Government must force all petrol stations to stock Opal fuel or condemn Aboriginal communities to "re-living the petrol-sniffing nightmare", says a lobby group.

A parliamentary inquiry into petrol sniffing today recommended the government legislate to ensure petrol stations in central Australia sell the "non-sniffable" Opal fuel.

Close to 120 petrol stations have voluntarily switched to the fuel, but a number of retailers in problem areas refuse to stock it.

The report recommends the Federal Government continue to subsidise the fuel, which costs around 33 cents a litre more than normal fuel to produce.

It also recommends retailers in problem areas should be made to switch to the fuel if they don't do so voluntarily in the next six months.

National Director of the Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), David Cooper, has urged the government to swiftly implement all the recommendations.

"It is clear that legislation is required to mandate the supply of Opal fuel within petrol sniffing strategy zones," he said.

"Without legislation, some outlets will continue to sell sniffable fuel and undermine the ability of communities to restrict its availability to young people."

Mr Cooper also said it was "totally unacceptable" that the vast majority of communities had not yet received any investment in youth programs.

"Unless we do this we're condemning communities to continue re-living the petrol-sniffing nightmare," he said.

Sniffing hit crisis point in Alice Springs in 2006, when up to 500 sniffers roamed the desert town.
It has been all but eradicated following the successful rollout of Opal, which is manufactured by BP and has lower levels than standard petrol of aromatics which provide sniffers with a "high".

Article sourced from The Australian