Readings
NEWS Australian-made campaign urges global action on poverty-ABC Radio
07/07/2009
It's now estimated that one point 4-billion people worldwide are living on less than US$1 a day. The sobering statistics have inspired an international awareness campaign on poverty that was be launched in Melbourne last night and will be taken on a world tour in a variety of languages. Both the former Young Australian of the Year, Hugh Evans, and actor, Hugh Jackman, are involved. They hope the project will inspire a global audience to make a difference and prompt all governments to keep their foreign aid commitments.
"HUGH JACKMAN: In 2000, the world's nations agreed to eight millennium development goals. Eight goals designed to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Whilst some progress has been made, the rise of India and China mask the fact that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to languish far behind . . .
BRONWYN HERBERT: It's Australian made, but globally focused. Hugh Jackman is the face of the campaign, but former young Australian of the Year, Hugh Evans, is its helmsman. Hugh Evans says the Global Poverty Project is all about giving people the right information and he wants to follow a similar strategy to that of Al Gore and his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", that helped millions of people better understand the global impacts of climate change.
HUGH EVANS: It was so inspiring and I thought to myself, he tells this story about the challenge of climate change, but one story he didn't tell was the challenge of extreme poverty, and what he didn't say is that 1.4 billion people still live on still less than $1.25 per day.
BRONWYN HERBERT: He says this project aims to brush away stereotypes of poverty.
HUGH EVANS: There are different myths and rumours around Australia about how much we can do to end extreme poverty. People say: "There's too much corruption, we can't do it" and "charity should start at home". All these things people say, but no one has come together and said "Ok, what does it actually mean for us to end extreme poverty".
BRONWYN HERBERT: The campaign focuses on how people's everyday decisions can make a difference,
HUGH EVANS: So whether you give to organisations like Oxfam, World vision and the like; whether you are actually buying fair trade products, coffee or chocolate, or searching them out at your local supermarket to make that change, all of that would have an immediate and direct impact on the world's poor.
BRONWYN HERBERT: The project's advisory team includes US economist, Jeffrey Sachs, UN officials and Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith. After its Australian campaign, the project will be rolled out across Europe, South Africa, the U-S and Canada. Hugh Evans says a key element is ensuring countries keep to their foreign aid commitments, such as (Australian Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd's promise of 0.5 per cent of Australia's gross national income.
HUGH EVANS: As citizens we have to keep him to account to that. The key challenge is that he back-loaded that commitment towards 2015 which is far beyond senate estimates and one thing I would say is Kevin Rudd is not going far enough. Now, in recent years, the income of the world has tripled, but the number of people living in poverty has halved. So, we now have more money, even in light of the global financial crisis, to support fewer people and the government needs to work towards that.
BRONWYN HERBERT: So Hugh, how much are we behind the 8 ball?
HUGH EVANS: We are not bad people. Australians are extremely generous. Australians want to do something, they just need to know how. So we're trying to provide a clear and distinctive avenue that says we need to educate ourselves about the issues; we need to have conversations with our friends about the issues. We also need to advocate, use our voice and tell our politicians that we want poverty on the agenda. I am a global citizen and I care about the whole world and not just Australia."
