Aboriginal people from remote communities like Titjikala in Northern Territory hope a handful of petrol stations boycotting the non-sniffable Opal fuel program will comply by the end of the year.
An Australian Greens private member's bill, which has passed federal parliament, will make mandatory what has been a voluntary Opal fuel roll-out in remote parts of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
Opal fuel discourages petrol sniffing because it does not give off aromatic fumes that give addicts a high.
There are 123 petrol stations selling Opal fuel in remote parts of Australia but six retailers in the roll-out zones don't and there are pockets of sniffing near state borders.
Lisa Sharman from Titjikala, 120 kilometres south of Alice Springs, told AAP the change would force the Maryvale Station near her township to end its Opal boycott.
Ms Sharman said her community was doing its best to stamp out sniffing but with normal fuel available nearby it was a battle.
"During the school holidays there was no sniffing because we were gave the kids other activities to do," she said. She said the handful of youngsters sniffing were aged 18 to 21 and were corrupting younger children.
"They get kicked out of one community and go to another one and they teach other kids how to sniff," Ms Sharman said.
The small number of sniffers in her community were not showing noticeable signs of their addiction.
"We don't want to get to that stage," Ms Sharman said. Heather Goldsworthy from Maryvale Station said the petrol station would reverse its stance now that the law was passed.
"We'll have to get it then, won't we ... we don't want to cop a fine," she told AAP. Aboriginal social justice commissioner Mick Gooda hailed the passage of the legislation, saying it would stop people suffering permanent brain damage.
"It's a disgrace we have retailers out there who make their living out of Aboriginal people, who are happy to milk the community of their money but not contribute to something that can improve their health," he told reporters in Canberra.
Tristan Ray from CAYLUS, a Central Australian petrol sniffing prevention program, told AAP that at Lake Nash in the NT there were about 10 petrol sniffers because over the Queensland border at Urandangi petrol stations were not selling Opal.
"We've been asking them for over five years to change their mind but they haven't," he said.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert spearheaded the push to make the roll-out of Opal fuel mandatory.
She hopes by the end of the year all petrol stations will comply.
There's a six month period for state and territory governments to introduce their own laws, but if they don't the federal legislation will kick in.
