http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16230383-2,00.html
Mum brought sniffer to inquiry
By Ashleigh Wilson and Patricia Karvelas
August 12, 2005
From:
Steven Uluru ... his presence 'was not an accident'. A PETROL-sniffing man who brought a coronial inquiry to a halt this week had been taken to the hearing by his mother, who was desperate to illustrate the problems she faced each day.
Northern Territory coroner Greg Cavanagh told the resumed inquest yesterday he had adjourned Wednesday's hearing feeling "angry at myself, at my impotence to stop what was going on".
"He had not wandered into these proceedings by way of an accident," Mr Cavanagh said. "She brought him. She wanted me to see him."
The coronial inquiry is investigating the deaths of two petrol-sniffers from Mutitjulu, in the shadow of Uluru, and one sniffer from Willowra, north of Alice Springs.
Health Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday the Government would review a proposal for the wider distribution of non-sniffable petrol, known as Opal, but said it could never be "the whole answer".
"If it's not available in the local roadhouse, it will be available in Alice Springs. If it's not available in Alice Springs, it will still be available in Katherine. If it's not available in Katherine, it will still be available in Darwin," he said.
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"Short of putting this in every single petrol bowser right around the country, we are never going to entirely deny sniffers access to sniffable petrol and that's why it is important that, in conjunction with the Opal rollout, we also have strategies in affected communities to deal with the problem."
At Mutitjulu on Wednesday, Mr Cavanagh walked away from the hearings after Steven Uluru sat at the edge of the inquiry sniffing petrol from a can. The coroner, clearly emotional, then returned and adjourned the inquiry.
Mutitjulu community development worker Greg Andrews told the inquiry in Alice Springs yesterday how court staff, police officers and lawyers had done nothing when the man began sniffing petrol.
"I was the only person who tried to stop (it)," he said. Mr Andrews came close to tears several times yesterday as he spoke of the problem of petrol sniffing and other substance abuse at Mutitjulu, describing it as an "epidemic of addiction".
He said it was critical to reduce the supply of petrol, alcohol and marijuana into the community, where some children go to school only to get food and old people are forced to sleep in nearby sand dunes for their safety.
In other evidence, Mr Andrews said one of the men who died from sniffing told his father before he took it up: "If you don't stop drinking grog, we are going to start sniffing petrol."
The coroner said "you don't need to be Aboriginal" to understand the "hypocrisy" of drunk adults telling their children to stop sniffing petrol.
Mr Andrews said governance was weak at Mutitjulu and there was a lack of informed decision-making in the community.
A "culture of dependence" had infected the community, he said, with both substance abuse and passive welfare.
Mr Andrews said he had been trying to set an example around the community by approaching sniffers and asking them for their petrol.
But he was once chased away by a sniffer carrying an iron bar after he tried to get her to pour out her petrol.
Mr Andrews said it was time to avoid euphemisms when talking about the problems, and the children who are "starving, filthy and chronically ill".
"If we are to fix these problems, we have to talk openly and honestly about them," he said. "That's what the people of Mutitjulu want, too."
Alice Springs social worker Tristan Ray, from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service, yesterday said Opal fuel could only be effective if it were introduced across the central Australian region. He said it would also save the taxpayers money, since each wheelchair-bound, brain damaged petrol sniffer can cost up to $750,000 to care for per year.
"We really believe that the taxpayer would end up paying a lot less," he said.
