[Greens-Media] Action needed to address Tennant Creek petrol sniffing

[Redman, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

 8 June 2013

Action needed to address Tennant Creek petrol sniffing

The Australian Greens said today that reports of an outbreak of petrol sniffing in Tennant Creek and the areas around Ali Curung in the Northern Territory highlight yet again the urgent need to require retailers to stock non-sniffable fuel.

"The Parliament has passed Australian Greens' legislation which enables the Minister to mandate the supply of non-sniffable fuel if suppliers in at-risk areas refuse to stock it," Senator Siewert said today.

"The situation in Tennant Creek and Ali Curung is exactly what this Act was designed for, to reduce the terrible harm petrol sniffing causes.

"Fuel retailers have had many years to change over to non-sniffable fuel, but some are still dragging their feet or relying on myths to avoid switching over. That is why the Government needs to take action to mandate non-sniffable fuel.

"This is a regional problem, and should be addressed as such. A community like Ali Curung has sniffable fuel available on each road into the community. Being surrounded by these outlets means any community action to address the problem by stocking non-sniffable fuel is immediately undermined.

"This is a regional problem, and should be addressed as such. A community like Ali Curung has non-sniffable fuel available in town, but each road into the community has an outlet selling regular fuel. They're surrounded by these outlets, so any community action to address the problem is immediately undermined.

"The Federal Government should be preparing to use the powers of the Act as soon as possible to address this urgent situation.

"I was pursuing this issue yesterday in Senate Estimates in order to understand where progress is being made and where there are delays, and it was disappointing to hear, yet again, that construction of a non-sniffable fuel storage tank in Darwin is not complete.

"Each time I ask about the completion of this tank, it seems I am told it will be done in 'six months'. It yesterday we were told it's still six months away.

"While this tank isn't necessary for immediately getting non-sniffable fuel into places like Tennant Creek, it will make the process a lot easier.

"Delays and inaction are simply unacceptable when kids are so clearly being harmed by petrol sniffing.

"The Green's legislation was designed to help in critical situations such as this and the Government need to put it to use," Senator Siewert concluded.