Push for Opal fuel to be rolled out right across Top End

The chief executive officer of Oenpelli's Gunbalunya community is pushing for non-sniffable Opal fuel to be rolled out in all communities in the Top End.


Late last year two Oenpelli teenagers died after sniffing petrol in a shipping container.


Oenpelli has signed up for federal subsidies for the fuel, but will not be able to roll it out fully until the road into the town reopens, which could be months away.


The Gunbalunya Council's Bill Medley says once the dry season starts, Opal will be the only fuel sold in the community.


"It's just unfortunate that the weather in this neck of the woods mitigated against us getting it when we needed it and we can only get it by bringing it in in 200 litre drums," Mr Medley said.


"We're now on the list until the road opens again, and as soon as it is we'll have a semi-trailer load of Opal delivered to the community."


Mr Medley says it will help cut the number of people sniffing fuel.


"I mean given that we've had a fairly long history, not that you'd like anyway, that people in the community have been sniffing, we think Opal fuel's the way to go because it brings it down to basically negligible numbers and certainly looks after the health of the children as well," he said.


The chief executive of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance (AMSANT), John Paterson, says the organisation would like to see Opal rolled out in all communities.


"In doing so we need to make sure that it's a planned roll out, rather than an ad hoc sort of roll out so that we're, you know, not blocking the situation in one community and it's popping up in another," Mr Paterson said.


"We need to ensure that there's a planned approach in the roll out of Opal fuel, particularly for the Northern Territory. AMSANT's preference would be for Opal to be rolled out in all communities throughout the Northern Territory, if funding was available to allow that."