This review was conducted to ascertain the effectiveness of the Low Aromatic Fuel Act 2013 in meeting its primary object: “to enable special measures to be taken to reduce potential harm to the health of people, including Aboriginal persons and Torres Strait Islanders, living in certain areas from sniffing fuel.”

This guide contains information about how to care for people who deliberately become intoxicated by inhaling vapours (often called sniffing, bagging, huffing or chroming). Sniffable products include petrol, paint stripper and other products used in building and plumbing, glue, nail polish remover, fuel gas, lighter fluid, spray paint and other spray cans.

Petrol sniffing causes devastation in Indigenous communities. The health impacts include chronic disability and the social impacts include violence, crime and the breakdown of community structures. This report argues that measures to deal with the problem are now well known; the priority is to harness Commonwealth, state and territory governments and Indigenous community members to...