Call to double foreign aid

Mr Cullen said that the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were intended to halve world poverty by 2015, but were “not currently on track”.

‘Stand Up’ was a part of the Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta in South Fremantle, and was one of many across the country raising community awareness and support for the MDGs before the United Nations meets to discuss progress in New York this week.

The Make Poverty History tent on Hulbert Street was run by representatives from Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Oaktree Foundation, who provided fiesta-goers with information on the MDGs, along with whistles and musical instruments.

The instruments were put to good use when Mr Cullen took to the stage and encouraged the crowd at the Fiesta to make “two minutes of noise to stop the obscenity of poverty”.

Fremantle’s member for federal parliament, Melissa Parke, and Tony Simpson, state member for Darling Ranges, joined the local community and Make Poverty History representatives in the noise-making.

Ms Parke addressed the crowd talking about the impact of poverty on the world’s poorer citizens, comparing the “devastation” of this year’s earthquake in Haiti to the recent quake of the same magnitude in New Zealand in which no one lost their life.

Ms Parke also spoke about the effects of climate change on impoverished people.

“The poor bear the brunt of climate change, but do the least damage,” she said.

Mr Cullen also identified climate change as a problem for those in poverty.

“Climate change is already killing 300,000 people a year, according to the United Nations, because of Malaria alone,” he said.

Make Poverty History is pushing for Australia to increase its foreign aid commitment to 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product by 2015, rather than the government’s target of 0.5 per cent, as well as supporting a “Robin Hood Tax” on banks to generate funds for aid and development, Mr Cullen Said.

Tony Simpson, representing the state Premier, said that any government increases in aid would need to be pushed by the community, and that Non-Government Organisations were a better way to deal with foreign aid.

NGOs are better value in aid than government,” Mr Simpson said.