The Wire

A coronial inquest into the death of two Indigenous men and one child from petrol sniffing continued today in Mutitjulu, a community of 400, living in the shadow of Uluru in the NT. The inquest began yesterday in Alice Springs, where Coroner Greg Cavanagh heard that petrol sniffing may have contributed to as many as 60 Aboriginal deaths in the NT in the past seven years. Tristan Ray from the Tangenyere Council in Alice Springs says coronial inquests are practical steps forward, but it’s up to the government to actually implement the recommendations, like the roll out of non-intoxicating Opal fuel. Eddie Chisholm is from the Yugomungi Council at Ngukurr, 600 kilometres southeast of Darwin. Ngukurr is one of the communities where Opal has been introduced in the hope of curing petrol sniffers. But Mr Chisholm says the lack of sniffable petrol in the community just means that people are going elsewhere to get their fix…or worse still, stealing petrol from cars that have fuelled up in other areas. Bob Randall, the Director of the Community Controlled Clinic, at Mutitjulu near Uluru, told the coroner today the money spent on inquests and parliamentary committees would be better spent on community clinics like his.