AVGAS TAX HIKE RAISES FEARS OF PETROL DEATHS

In the 1980s and early 1990s 70 young Ngaanyatjarra Aborigines died
from sniffing petrol. Dozens more - some as young as six - were left
as living dead, permanently brain damaged after searching for a
fuel-induced high.

In 1993 Ngaanyatjarra elders acted, using council by-laws to ban
petrol throughout an area in the Gibson desert bigger than Victoria,
replacing it with aviation fuel (avgas), which works as well in car
engines but does not give petrol-sniffers a high.

The Maningrida Community in the Northern Territory did the
same.

But now the Ngaanyatjarra Council, which represents desert Aborigines
living on the border of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and
South Australia, fear that petrol will be back in their communities
because of the Federal Government's 45c per litre excise on the price
of avgas. The excise is in place to discourage the use of avgas in
cars because of its high lead content.

In August Mobil Oil Australia wrote to its customers, including the
Ngaanyatjarra, informing them that from August 10 all avgas
non-aviation sales must incorporate the excise payment.

Before avgas was introduced, towns like Warburton in the far west of
Western Australia were stricken with violence and social breakdown.
More than half of Ngaanyatjarra children were sniffing petrol. The
sniffing, the deaths and the crimes stopped straight after the
introduction of avgas.

The Ngaanyatjarra estimate that based on an annual consumption of
700,000 litres, the excise will cost the community more than $300,000.
According to a Ngaanyatjarra community adviser, Mr Damien McLean, who
as a community Justice of the Peace also enforces the law in
Warburton, the sniffing will begin again as soon as the last of the
current batch of avgas runs out.

"We are looking at a return to the mid-1980s," Mr McLean said. "There
will inevitably be deaths and people physically and mentally disabled.
This is extremely corrosive to the community fabric."

In a region where fuel already costs $1.05 a litre, it will no longer
be possible for Aboriginal drivers to afford to fill their cars, and
the current supplies of avgas in the community are expected to be the
last. Community elders stressed that they were not asking for cheaper
fuel, only for avgas to be available at the same price as regular petrol.

The co-ordinator of the Ngaanyatjarra Council, Mr Peter Rapkins, wrote
at the end of last month to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Senator
Herron, begging him to intervene.

In 1996 Senator Herron described the Ngaanyatjarra as a model for
other Aboriginal communities because of the way they had handled their
social problems.

Mr Rapkins wrote: "This is an immediate problem that requires an
exemption from the fuel excise to remote Aboriginal communities who
use avgas as a means to save the lives of their younger
generation".

The chief executive officer of the Australian Customs Service, Mr
Lionel Woodward, wrote back:

"I am aware that petrol sniffing is a very real problem in many
Aboriginal communities that has resulted in the tragic loss of many
young lives. It is understandable that the Ngaanyatjarra Council and
other Aboriginal communities would want to take all possible action to
address the problem and reduce the death rate.

"Unfortunately, the present excise duty of [45c] per litre applies to
avgas used otherwise than in aircraft, and there are currently no
concessional arrangements that could be applied to allow that rate of
duty to be varied."

A spokeswoman for the Customs Minister, Mr Truss, said there was an
awareness of the problem, and that discussions were under way between

Mr Truss's office and Senator Herron's office. She also said there was
"a willingness" to try and find a solution.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady