Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to share the nervousness that often occurs in the month of November for all of those families and households out there who have young school leavers in their final year of school. It is a nervousness which is often overshadowed by nervousness about the end-of-year exams. It is about their young school leavers going off to that well-known institution that we call schoolies week, which will be occurring later on in the month.

Of course, in the electorate of Bonner and in the suburbs of Brisbane, we are very near to the mecca of that tradition, which is the Gold Coast. Tonight I would like to pay tribute to an organisation called Red Frogs. It is a group of young volunteers based at the city point church in Mansfield in the electorate of Bonner. A youth worker called Andy Gourley has over 10 years developed a group of young volunteers who make their way to various locations where schoolies gather to try and offer some comfort, some support and, at times, some very much needed assistance when the celebrations of that week get a little bit too much.

We know that it is the right of every young person to celebrate the end of school. It is a significant time in people’s lives, and that week afterwards is often seen as a rite of passage from being a schoolkid to moving on to young adulthood. Unfortunately, though, in this day and age it is often seen as an excuse to live to excess and, indeed, to often put yourself in quite severe physical and sometimes moral danger because of the temptations that occur in that particular week.

Red Frogs developed when Andy Gourley, some 10 years ago as a youth worker, went to schoolies week on the Gold Coast to visit a friend and saw the trouble that many young people get into when they are often away from home for the first time and when they are sampling some temptations—probably for the first time—and doing so in an atmosphere where excess is seen as the norm. It is called Red Frogs because they are the means by which the volunteers approach young people who they believe are in need of assistance to try and tempt them into sitting down, having a chat and perhaps taking the advice and the assistance of the volunteers.

Red frogs have been seen as the most successful lolly that young people respond to. Over the years they have tried many different kinds but, for some reason, red frogs seem to be the best icebreaker and have become a tradition. Ten years ago, when Andy first started, he handed out 80 kilos in the first year that Red Frogs volunteers went to the Gold Coast. This year they will distribute some nine tonnes of red frogs, and I think that is an indication of how successful this program has been.

I had the privilege of visiting with Andy a local high school, Mount Gravatt High School, in my electorate last week. Andy does a tour of schools throughout Brisbane, talking to the year 12s about the possible troubles or dangers they may face when they go down to schoolies week. He offers very practical and sensible advice about how to survive the week and, indeed, how to enjoy it.

I wanted to offer my support because, as we know, the issue of teenage binge drinking is something that is very much at the forefront of the government’s attention and that of the broader Australian community. Here we have an organisation that has had major success in walking young people home, protecting them from possible danger and picking them up off the streets when they are often semiconscious or even unconscious. Indeed, the organisation has even been successful in talking young people out of suicide. Often these are young men with a little bit too much drink or illegal substances in their bodies who find that life is a bit overwhelming, and they are in a position where they may seek that very dramatic last resort to end their depression and their fears. The Red Frogs people at the drop of a hat, at the phone call of a friend, will come to the aid of that person, sit and talk with them, offer them lots of red frogs and sympathy, and often they receive many accolades from young people now living very successful lives who ring to offer their thanks for the support they received at that time. (Time expired)