Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I know he shares the concern with many members in this chamber of the scourge of petrol sniffing on Aboriginal communities across this country and the dramatic impact it has on young people in particular. My own involvement with this terrible issue goes back three decades, when I was involved in helping to set up a petrol-sniffing program in the Central Desert lands of Pitjantjatjara country in 1980 and 1981. So I share his concern and understand the dramatic implications of petrol sniffing.

I informed the House when the member last asked me a question that the Commonwealth had committed $84 million to the rollout of Opal over the next four years. I indicated then that we had problems in rolling it out in the goldfields region because of infrastructure issues. I am pleased to be able to advise the House that, after consultation with BP Australia, those infrastructure issues have been overcome and that, as of 21 March, a communication strategy was entered into in the goldfields region to inform people about the arrival of Opal and that Opal would start to be delivered in the goldfields as at 31 March. It will be rolled out progressively over two months, and I expect that we will see many of the petrol stations in the region delivering Opal to consumers over that period.

I say to the member that, since we last spoke about this, BP has had Opal independently tested and evaluated by, I think, Orbital in Western Australia. Their conclusion is that this fuel is as good if not better than other unleaded fuels. There will be no harm to small boat motors, to lawnmowers or to cars as a result of the use of this fuel, and those people in the community who are concerned about its impact upon their vehicles ought to understand that this is a very good fuel that will not harm their vehicles. I know that the member is aware that there are some sceptics and deniers in his own community around the issue of Opal. They exist in the Northern Territory as well. I say to them: get your head out of the sand, get with the game and buy Opal.

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