Chapter 3

The success of low aromatic fuel

3.1        The story of the manufacture and distribution of low aromatic fuel in central Australia, to substitute for sniffable fuel, is a story of spectacular policy success. It is a rare and precious achievement in the challenging field of Indigenous health policy. The initiative has involved a partnership between the private sector, including both large and small businesses, governments at all levels, non-government organisations, and Indigenous communities. This partnership has dramatically curbed the scourge of petrol sniffing, by over ninety percent in some places. As CAYLUS put it:

We consider the LAF roll out to have been a great success to date. It has completely changed the focus of our work. As sniffing has vastly reduced in our service region we have been able to put greater effort into upstream measures to prevent substance misuse uptake in the first place and to improve quality of life for young people and families in our region.[1]

3.2        Before the committee engages in any debate about what the next step should be, it wishes to place on record its acknowledgement of this success, and its congratulations to everyone involved in achieving it.

Evaluation of the Opal strategy

3.3        In 2005 and 2006, Dr Peter d'Abbs and Ms Gillian Shaw conducted a baseline study 'across 74 communities from all over remote Australia that were currently using, or shortly to begin using Opal fuel ... to establish an accurate count of the prevalence and frequency of petrol sniffing'.

3.4        DoHA commissioned Dr d'Abbs and Ms Shaw to do a follow-up impact study in 2008 that re-visited 20 of the initial 74 sites to gather prevalence and frequency data.[2] They found a 70 per cent decrease in sniffing between baseline and follow-up, with 94 and 93 per cent decreases in Central Australia and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands respectively. By contrast, in two communities that had easy access to RULP, there had been an increase in petrol sniffing. Dr d'Abbs and Ms Shaw also documented:

... a statistically significant relationship between the distance from each community to the nearest ULP outlet, and the size of the decrease in the prevalence of sniffing at each community, which indicates that the use of Opal fuel has had a significant role in the decrease in the prevalence of sniffing.[3]

3.5        Based on these findings and the positive feedback obtained from community members during site visits in Central and Northern Australia, the committee concluded in its 2009 report that 'the supply of Opal fuel has been a resounding success in helping to reduce petrol sniffing'.[4]

Stakeholder perspectives on the success of low aromatic fuel

3.6        Extensive media coverage of petrol sniffing around the time that the committee held hearings were held in Alice Springs sparked discussion about the factors behind recent petrol sniffing outbreaks including the ongoing issue of access to sniffable fuels in some communities and the contrast with regions that had a more comprehensive rollout of low aromatic fuel and much lower levels of petrol sniffing.

3.7        Ms Donna Ah Chee contrasted the success of the low aromatic fuel rollout in Central Australia to the ongoing difficulties experienced in other regions where sniffable fuel is accessible from retail outlets in proximity to remote communities:

Further evidence of the effectiveness of Opal unleaded fuel is provided in the recent article 'Cheap, easy, fatal: scourge of sniffing returns to remote northern landscape' by Nicolas Rothwell.[5] The article reveals that all of the current petrol-sniffing hotspots are remote Aboriginal communities in the north that either do not have the benefit of Opal fuel, such as Katherine, or have regular access to non-Opal fuel outside of the community, such as Lake Nash, the Urandangi pub, Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy. If this story had been written in days prior to the rollout of Opal fuel in Central Australia, when there were over 400 active sniffers at any one time, it is sniffing in Central Australia that would have been the feature. The number has dropped to about 20, and this is why the story chose to focus on the north but did not acknowledge the success in the Centre, which is very unfortunate. It is clearly not true, and it is poor journalism, to claim: "All that is clear is failure: after millions of dollars, reports, studies and programs, the combined efforts of the commonwealth and NT governments to stop the plague have come to nothing".

On the contrary, the rollout of Opal unleaded in Central Australia demonstrates what supply-side strategies can achieve. This should be celebrated.[6]

3.8        The majority of submissions noted the success that had been achieved to date with the voluntary rollout of low aromatic fuel, crediting it with being the key, though not sole, factor in the reduction of petrol sniffing. Mr David Hewitt and Mrs Margaret Hewitt have lived and worked in Indigenous communities over several decades and Mrs Hewitt stated that:

... the introduction of the Opal low aromatic fuel has had the biggest single positive impact on the health and welfare of Indigenous people in the 48 years of our work in remote regions.[7]

3.9        Speaking about her experience with the Mt Theo program, Susie Low said that low aromatic fuel was a crucial element in dealing with petrol sniffing:

Our experience confirms that the use of Opal fuel strengthens communities against petrol sniffing. It removes the supply, which is an essential element. This breaks the cycle and allows communities to concentrate on diversionary and youth development activities.[8]

3.10      The NPY Women's Council indicated that petrol sniffing has decreased in many of their communities as a result of the Opal rollout:

There have been many retailers that have taken up the opportunity to sell Opal fuel across the region, however there are still some retailers who are resisting this change and whose actions are undermining the strategy. In the APY Lands the health service collects statistics on petrol sniffers. In the financial year ending June 2011 there are only a few isolated incidences of sniffing, less than 10...

Since the implementation of Opal fuel in Laverton and the phasing out of sniffable unleaded fuel, petrol sniffing has decreased significantly in the area of Warburton, which is where NPY Women’s Council are currently focusing their advocacy efforts...

Since 2006 there has been much progress in the effort to reduce petrol sniffing across Central Australia. The voluntary roll [out of] Opal fuel, has played a substantial role in this reduction...[9]

3.11      Though the provision of low aromatic fuel is not on its own a solution, it is the most important element of a holistic approach. From their long experience in the field, CAYLUS reiterated the vital role that low aromatic fuel has played:

We know this from experience. We were doing this before Opal, and we would try all the other measures. Before Opal and the VSAP Act, we were there trying to stop sniffing. You could start a youth program in a community and you would get a lot of the sniffers to stop but not all of them. But once you have Opal in a community the sniffing stops and then the youth programs can really go because they are not competing against people who are off their faces all the time. Opal is a necessary precursor to dealing with sniffing. Dealing with those underlying issues of boredom and that sort of stuff is really so much easier once you have got the supply reductions sorted. Then you can have a window of opportunity to deal with people when they are conscious and able to think and not sneaking off for a sniff of petrol every five minutes.[10]

3.12      The committee also received evidence that even though a long-term best-practice community development program such as the Mt Theo program had succeeded in eradicating sniffing, it would be very difficult to replicate across other communities. Andrew Stojanovski was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his work at Yuendumu setting up the Mt Theo Petrol Sniffing Prevention Program. He notes that:

One of the biggest causes of the petrol sniffing is the easy availability of something to sniff that makes you high. Other issues are peer group pressure, youth boredom and community disadvantage.[11]

3.13      In summing up the advantages of removing sniffable fuel compared to the community development approaches that he helped implement, Mr Stojanovski pointed out that the low aromatic fuel strategy was relatively straightforward to implement, replicable across communities, and produced results in a short timeframe:

Up until Opal was introduced in Central Australia I expected that I would spend my career working on petrol sniffing, community by community. There was incredible community and professional pressure on me to take the Mt Theo solution to petrol sniffing and set up similar programs in other communities using a grass roots, ground up approach. Using the Mt Theo model I expected that it would take a decade’s work in each community to defeat sniffing. Over my career the best I could hope for using this approach would be to eradicate sniffing in four communities over a period of forty years.

I have to say Opal changed my life. The Mt Theo solution to sniffing was very hard to implement, and extremely hard to replicate. When we told our story at conferences to government and Indigenous leaders, who wanted to know the secret to our success, they would walk away shaking their heads, saying that what we did was too difficult to reproduce. They claimed the level of personal and community commitment was too much to expect from professional paid program staff, and was not something a government program could replicate.

In contrast Opal is a solution that governments and communities can readily implement. Its use in Central Australia has really taken the pressure off communities and provides a breathing space where community workers can actually focus on programs that address the personal and social issues underlying petrol sniffing. When sniffing is rife in a community it is near impossible to do this, the power, violence and dysfunction caused by sniffing is too overwhelming.

Opal has the ability to effectively reduce the level of sniffing in a short period of time, providing a window of opportunity for real community development. In contrast it may take a decade to achieve a similar reduction in sniffing using a community development approach based on best practice models.[12]

3.14      Barkly Shire Council noted that it had ongoing issues with sniffing in some of its communities but that, where low aromatic fuel was used in the communities, sniffing was managed successfully.[13] Trevor Edmond lives in an area affected by sniffing and wrote:

I have lived in such areas and seen the devasting effects of the abuse of aromatic fuels. I have used Opal fuel in my vehicle without any problems and have not had fuel stolen from my car because it does not fill up with anything but Opal fuel.

Though the legislation may not stop petrol sniffing completely it will contribute to the reduction of the practice.[14]

3.15      The Australian government has noted both the effectiveness of non-sniffable fuel, and the need to embed it in a broader program.

Since its establishment the PSS has achieved a substantial and visual reduction of petrol sniffing and associated issues in targeted communities across remote Australia. The roll out of low aromatic fuel has been a fundamental part of this success. Supporting programs also play a key role in maintaining the reduction of the incidence and impact of petrol sniffing. In particular, these programs ensure that the issue of petrol sniffing is addressed holistically through a combination of approaches as evidence suggests that a holistic strategy is likely to be more effective than actions concentrating on a single aspect of the issue.[15]

Conclusion

3.16      There is no doubt that the introduction of low aromatic fuel has helped reduce substance abuse in a significant number of communities across Australia. This report now turns to the issues involved in extending that roll-out, and maintaining the benefits it has delivered.

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