MEDIA RELEASE
In an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during Anti-Poverty Week, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and the Campaign for Australian Aid, along with 36 signatories, called on the Government to take meaningful action to fight domestic and global poverty.
“Anti-Poverty Week provides us with the ideal time to be talking about ‘No Poverty’ being the first UN Sustainable Development Goal that the Australian Government signed in 2015. These goals apply both globally and here in Australia,” said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie.
“After 25 years of economic growth, our wealthy nation has failed to make any progress in reducing domestic poverty. Most alarmingly, 17.4% of all children in Australia are living in poverty, an increase of 2 percentage points over the past 10 years,” Dr Goldie said.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Australian Aid’s Director, Tony Milne, said: “While the world is making progress towards ending poverty, hunger and the worst epidemics, there are still 836 million people living in extreme poverty.
“The Australian Government must step up and increase our Australian aid budget so that we can be part of the global solution towards ending poverty,” Mr Milne said.
The letter to the Prime Minister read: “We require a national plan to tackle the scourge of poverty that diminishes us all in one of the wealthiest countries in the world… This Anti-Poverty Week, let’s convert our international commitment to reduce poverty in Australia and overseas into meaningful action.”
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The open letter can be downloaded. The Campaign for Australian Aid is a joint initiative of the Make Poverty History and Micah Australia coalitions, for all Australians who believe we can and should do more as a nation to end extreme poverty around the world. It represents over 65 aid and development organisations, church, business and community groups. For all media enquiries, please contact Sarah Cannata on 0407 536 133 or sarah.cannata@australianaid.org