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1. Introduction

The Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC), Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA)1 commissioned Urbis to conduct a review of the first phase of the Petrol Sniffing Strategy (PSS) ie the first 12 months of its operation.

This is the Final Report on the review.

1.1 Background and context

Since 1998 the Commonwealth Government has had in place measures of various kinds to address petrol sniffing in Indigenous communities. Starting that year, the Comgas Scheme administered by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health within the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) provided a subsidised non-sniffable fuel (aviation fuel or Avgas) to registered Indigenous communities as a replacement for standard petrol.

In 2004 BP Australia, working in conjunction with DoHA and the Australian Institute of Petroleum, developed a new fuel designed for the specific needs of the scheme. Unleaded Opal fuel was launched in February 2005, replacing the supply of Avgas. As a vehicle fuel unleaded Opal performs similarly to regular unleaded petrol (ULP) in terms of economy and efficiency, but it is more expensive than ULP both to produce and to distribute. Accordingly the Government subsidises production and distribution of Opal as a harm minimisation and supply reduction strategy; the subsidy ensures that consumers pay the same amount for Opal as they would for regular unleaded fuel.

A paper presented in Vancouver in June 2007 by David de Carvalho of DoHA emphasises the significant role played by Aboriginal communities in pressing for action to tackle petrol sniffing:  ‘The role of community-based advocacy and the desire for change was a very strong driver for reducing petrol sniffing and ensuring better policy outcomes. Communities and organisations in Central Australia had long identified petrol sniffing as a major problem. Their concerns reflected the high levels of petrol sniffing experienced in many communities, the potentially very severe physical and damage (including death) that petrol sniffers can suffer, and the severe social damage and chaos that petrol sniffers can cause in communities – threatening ‘to destroy an already fragile social system’ The NPY Women’s Council, among others, lobbied for some years for effective action to address petrol sniffing in Central Australian communities. Once Opal fuel was developed, they and other members of the ‘Opal Alliance’ pressed strongly, and successfully, for Opal to be introduced over a wider region than had been covered by DoHA’s Comgas Scheme. The Opal Alliance was also central in having a cost/benefit analysis undertaken by Access Economics, which reinforced the case for effective intervention on petrol sniffing.

The May 2005 Budget provided $9.6 million, over four years, to expand the Comgas scheme (later renamed the Petrol Sniffing Prevention Program). Subsidised Opal fuel would now be made available to Indigenous communities, roadhouses, petrol stations and other relevant fuel outlets2.

In September 2005 the Government announced further funding ($9.5 million over two years) in addition to that announced in May, to support a comprehensive regional strategy to tackle petrol sniffing within a Central Desert Region which covered parts of South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory. The Western Australian, Northern Territory and South Australian Governments had already given their support to an Eight Point Plan of action for this tri-State region. The goals of the Plan were to reduce the incidence and impact of petrol sniffing across the Central Desert Region, and also to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy to determine whether it might appropriately be expanded to other regions with similar issues.

In May 2006 the Australian Government allocated a further $55.1 million, over four years, for the Eight Point Plan in the Central Desert Region, and also for a regional approach in certain other areas. One of these new regions involved an expansion of the original Central Desert Region to incorporate Alice Springs and an area of the Northern Territory extending north to just above Ti Tree and west of the Stuart Highway; the other new region was the East Kimberley (added in early 2007).

There were four Commonwealth Departments involved in the funding announced in the May 2006 Budget – FaHCSIA (as the Department is now known),3 the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), the Attorney General’s Department (AGD) and the (now) Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).4 As part of this funding, DoHA received $20.1 million for the continuing roll out ofOpal fuel and related activities. Further to that allocation, the Minister for Health and Ageing announced in July 2006 the commitment of $12 million, from 2007-08 to 2009-10, to supply unleaded Opal fuel in all petrol stations in Alice Springs as a further measure to help reduce the incidence of petrol sniffing in Central Australia.

1.2 The Eight Point Plan for the Central Desert Region

A 2004 evaluation report on the Comgas scheme recognised the value of substituting an alternative, non-sniffable fuel such as Avgas, but also argued that a strategy based just on limiting supply was not adequate. What was needed was ‘broad based strategies that deal with the full range of social determinants of health and wellbeing and that assist to stabilise communities and give them the capacity to deal with chronic and chaotic issues such as petrol sniffing’ (de Carvalho p13). The Eight Point Plan reflects an understanding that addressing petrol sniffing requires a multifaceted approach that in turn requires participation by a range of government and other agencies. The paper presented by de Carvalho in Vancouver in 2007, for example, notes that:

It is now widely recognised that socio-economic factors play a part in the general aetiology of petrol sniffing, including poverty, hunger, illness, low education levels, unemployment, boredom and general feelings of hopelessness. These form the environment in which such self-destructive behaviour takes place and as a result need to be addressed cohesively and concurrently through comprehensive intersectoral action.

The comprehensive approach of the Eight Point Plan was strongly influenced by the NPY Women’s Council and CAYLUS (Central Australian Youth Link Up Service), outcomes reported by the Mt Theo Program, and detailed literature reviews of interventions into petrol sniffing conducted by Peter D’abbs and Sarah McLean (de Carvalho p13). The findings of two Coroners’ Inquests into petrol sniffing deaths in the AP Lands in South Australia were also important influences. These factors had contributed to a climate of political, government and community concern about petrol sniffing.

Meetings of an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) relating to petrol sniffing, with representation from the Secretaries of key government agencies, were held in July and August 2005. The Eight Point Plan was first articulated at this August meeting.

State and Territory representatives met with the Commonwealth in Adelaide in September 2005 and gave support to the proposed Eight Point Plan. The eight points were as follows:

As previously indicated, the Eight Point Plan aims at: 

At a Commonwealth level the Eight Point Plan has been led jointly by DoHA and OIPC within FaHCSIA. Specific departmental responsibilities are as follows:

According to de Carvalho (2007, p17) the $55 million specified in the May 2006 budget was allocated across these Departments as set out in Table 1.1.

Table 1.2 May 2006 budget allocation to the PSS by Department
Department Amount of funding Activity
DoHA $20.1 million Roll-out of Opal fuel and to scope requirements for rehabilitation facilities
FaHCSIA $15 million Strengthen and support communities
AGD $14.9 million Prevention, diversion, rehabilitation and restorative justice programs for Indigenous communities
DEEWR $5.1 million Diversionary education projects

A Project Management Plan prepared by FaHCSIA in 2006 for the 2006/07 Reducing Substance Abuse (Petrol Sniffing) Budget Measure elaborates on the scope of the Eight Point Plan. It identifies three areas as falling ‘within State and Territory Government jurisdiction’, namely measures to improve policing in communities to reduce trafficking of illegal substances; measures to make substance abuse legislation consistent across jurisdiction; and provision of treatment and respite services. The Commonwealth is said to have a role in supporting such initiatives – and specifically working with State and Territory governments to ‘improve availability of appropriate treatment and respite services for petrol sniffers’.

The Project Management Plan lists several elements that are not usually mentioned as part of the Eight Point Plan; these include ‘community patrols’, ‘restorative justice initiatives’ and ‘provision of preventative drug education strategies’.

The Senate Inquiry report, Beyond Petrol Sniffing: Renewing Hope for Indigenous Communities (Senate Community Affairs References Committee Secretariat, June 2006) recognised the Eight Point Plan as an important and promising step in addressing petrol sniffing in a holistic manner.

1.3 This review

1.3.1 Aims of the review

The consultants were required to produce a short and concise report addressing the aims of the review, which were to:

This review is primarily concerned with the period July 2006 to December 2007 and focuses in particular on the Northern Territory.

1.4 Methodology

The methodology consisted of the following three components:

1.4.1 Literature overview

The first component was an overview of:

1.4.2 Fieldwork

A second component of the project involved a field visit to Alice Springs and three remote NT communities: Docker River, Aputula and Imanpa. These three communities are participating in the Northern Territory Integrated Youth Services (NTIYS) project being implemented by Mission Australia, which is funded under the PSS.

The field visit was conducted in early February 2008 by a two-person study team including one Aboriginal and one non-Aboriginal consultant. It was organised with the advice and assistance of the Central Australian Petrol Sniffing Unit (CAPPSU). Team members met with a range of government and non-government stakeholders, including some who were directly involved in managing or running the PSS initiatives and others who were not. A full list of those consulted is included in Appendix A. It had originally been hoped to consult with former petrol sniffers, but this proved not to be possible in practice.

Question guides were developed for government and community stakeholders to guide the consultations.

1.4.3 Telephone interviews

A series of telephone interviews (and a discussion group in Canberra) were also conducted with other stakeholders in Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, Darwin and Central Australia to complement the fieldwork. Those consulted included representatives of State or Territory government departments, and Canberra and State-based representatives of Australian Government departments involved in the PSS. These consultations were mostly conducted in January and February 2008.

1.5 Structure of this report

The report on the review is structured as follows:

  1. Prior to 2006, OIPC was a separate department with coordination responsibility for Indigenous policy. In 2006, following a restructure, OIPC was brought within FaHCSIA and no longer sat as a separate office.
  2. As at 1 August 2007 there were 104 sites in Central Australia receiving Opal fuel. These included 72 communities, 29 roadhouses and service stations, and three pastoral properties.
  3. Formerly the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The current title of this and other relevant departments will be used throughout this report.
  4. Formerly the Department of Education, Science and Training.

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2. Lessons from the literature on petrol sniffing

Appendix A – People consulted