Fuel plan not considered whole answer to substance abuse

A Northern Territory Aboriginal organisation says introducing non-sniffable petrol is only part of the solution to the problems facing Indigenous communities.

A plan to introduce alternative fuel in remote communities is supported by the Territory government and local councils.

The Federal Government has already committed $1 million to the project, which has the unanimous support of local councils.

But Richard Trudgen from Aboriginal Resource and Development Services says lasting solutions must target the social isolation that underlies sniffing behaviour.

"[Of] course you've got to have these options that stem...or slow down the use of petrol as a sniffing agent by Aboriginal youths, but what we should be looking at is the reason why they want to sniff in the first place and we never seem to get to that," he said.

Mr Trudgen has spent 30 years working with Indigenous communities and says he was able to eradicate petrol sniffing from one Arnhem Land community by emphasising traditional values.

Mr Trudgen says physically stopping people sniffing fuel is only part of the answer.

He says governments must educate young Indigenous people in their own language so they can find jobs and take part in society.

"Take language serious. It does work, we find that it works effectively and wonderfully using the Aboriginal languages," he said.

"We actually find that Yolngu Matha and the other traditional languages in Australia are extremely effective instructional language."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 21 Apr 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Contact: comments@your.abc.net.au
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/