HAIR AND MAKE-UP BY CAROLINE CRESSWELL.
Jacqui Lambie wears army fatigues, a hard hat and a grin from ear to ear as she rappels down a cliff face, never taking her eyes from Alexa, 15, who asked the straight-talking Tasmanian senator to partner with her on this abseiling challenge. “Little bit of a jump,” Jacqui coaxes. “That’s it.” They land confidently on a rocky outcrop, the whole emerald expanse of Kangaroo Valley spread before them.
Experiences like this are the stock in trade of Veteran Mentors, which runs camps for young people, some (though by no means all) of whom are grappling with deeply troubled lives. This is Jacqui’s passion project, the apex of her two chief concerns – the wellbeing of veterans (who gain as much from these programs as the kids) and early intervention to support young people at risk.
“She’s been up every night until midnight doing the washing for the whole camp,” Veteran Mentors Director Matthew French tells The Weekly when Jacqui’s out of earshot. No one would describe the senator as reticent, but nor is she one for big-noting herself. “No one asked her to do it,” he adds. She arrived, saw that the kids were up at sparrow’s, wading through muddy, leech-infested bushland, and decided they’d feel better about themselves with clean fatigues. She washes, dries, folds them, and tiptoes back to the dormitories after lightsout to deliver them like some kind of laundress Santa Claus.
Most of these kids have no idea who she is – just another mentor – but they like and trust her. Two girls sidle up after lunch, there’s a hushed conversation and she follows them to their
