Responding to petrol sniffing on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands : A case study

Description

In September 2002, the South Australian Coroner brought down his findings in the inquests into the deaths of Kunmanara Ken, Kunmanara Hunt and Kunmanara Thompson, three young Anangu men who died as a result of chronic petrol sniffing. The Coroner linkedthese deaths to socioeconomic factors such as hunger, poverty, illness, low education levels, almost total unemployment, boredom and general feelings of hopelessness, and identified the failure of governments to provide adequate services on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands (AP Lands) as contributing to the problems associated with and leading to petrol sniffing. This chapter provides an overview of research on the extent and impact of petrol sniffing in Indigenous communities in Australia, and then examines progress in implementing the recommendations of the Coroner in the year since they were released. Progress is considered in relation to the following four themes: intergovernmental and interagency coordination (noting that the AP Lands have been designated as a South Australian trial site for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) whole of government, whole of community trials); resourcing issues; health related issues; and justice related issues. The analysis finds that there has been variable progress in implementing initiatives, and concludes, among other things, that there needs to be long term bipartisan agreements put in place in regard to Indigenous petrol sniffing that will withstand changes in governments and bureaucracies, their agendas and personnel. Extracts from the findings of the Coronial inquests on petrol sniffing on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands are included as an appendix.

Copyright Information

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Requests and inquiries concerning the reproduction of materials should be directed to the Executive Director, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001.