The central zone ATSIC commissioner, Alison Anderson, says the ban of petrol sales at the Papunya community, west of Alice Springs, is a cry for help.

The Northern Territory Parliamentary Committee Inquiring into Substance Abuse says it supports the measure that aims to block the supply of fuel to sniffers.

It follows a similar ban in place at the Kintore community for the past six months.

Ms Anderson says with 50 per cent of Papunya's population sniffing petrol, government agencies need to come up with some preventative measures.

"This is just a way of people saying they're absolutely fed up with the crisis they have on communities and they want the Government to come in and give them a hand," she said.

"We're always talking about capacity building and being the resource for Indigenous people in remote Aboriginal communities, yet we've sat back and let Kintore ban petrol for six months and now Papunya's going down the same way."