Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to talk about an amazing young woman who lives in Belmont in the electorate of Swan. On Friday morning I attended a prayer breakfast meeting held at the Belmont City Offices function room. There were plenty of people from the local district in attendance, including Mayor Glenys Godfrey, Councillors Brenda Whitely and Carol Hanlon and local racing identity Bernie Ryan.

The guest speaker was Gary Raymond, a former detective in New South Wales. He spoke of his time in the rescue squad and his experience with the Granville train disaster. The events master of ceremonies was Jade Lewis, the youth pastor at Airport City Church. Jade is a remarkable young woman, and I spoke with her at length about the program she runs, including one that involves helping female prisoners at the Bandyup Women’s Prison.

Before I left, Jade gave me a book called Golden haze, which is about her experience with drug abuse and her recovery, through the Teen Challenge program, from that horror stretch in her life. Her book details her downward spiral from being an elite sports woman, with Olympic dreams, to eventually destroying those dreams and, in the process, nearly destroying her family as well. It all started with the innocent use of so-called recreational drugs.

I read Jade’s book over the weekend and was amazed at her journey. I suggest, like others have, that this book be compulsory reading for all school children. It is already in 500 schools around Australia. Jade Lewis is a champion against drugs, and I wish her well in her efforts to educate our youth about the horrors and the traumas that drug use brings to our society. Jade has lived it and survived it when many others have not. I will certainly be giving a copy of her book to my 16-year-old son.