The Policy Response to Indigenous Petrol Sniffing - and How to Improve It

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Petrol sniffing is a form of volatile substance misuse that occurs in some Aboriginal communities in Australia, as well as some Indigenous communities in the US, Canada and NZ. Although the practice is restricted to small numbers of young people, chronic sniffing leads to serious (and sometimes irreversible) harm to the health of sniffers. It also exacerbates inter-generational problems in families and, through its association with unsafe sex and property offences, creates problems for communities disproportionate to its prevalence. Throughout 1980s and 1990s, commonwealth and state-territory governments made a number of attempts to formulate and implement a coordinated policy response to the prevention and treatment of petrol sniffing. Although some of these initiatives generated short term funding for innovative programs, they have not given rise to sustained evidence-based policies, or even to an accumulation of knowledge upon which funding decisions might be based. Programs continue to be funded on an ad hoc basis; few are evaluated, and there is little evidence that findings from evaluations inform ongoing policy decision-making. The primary purpose of this project is to determine why this should be so, and to identify practicable changes that could reasonably be expected to lead both to the accumulation of knowledge about effective interventions, and to the formulation of sustainable, evidence-based policies and programs. The project utilises a policy analysis methodology to examine a number of case studies of attempts by various governments to respond to Indigenous petrol sniffing. Data will be collected from examination of documentary sources and interviews with key informants. The focus of the project is on the policy-making process, rather than on petrol sniffing itself. The findings will be used to make recommendations designed to improve the capacity of governments to respond more effectively, and thereby to reduce the harm caused by petrol sniffing.