On the 7th September 2005 twenty five thousands Make Poverty History postcards and emails signed by the Australian public were delivered by three primary school students representing three aid and development organisations to Bruce Bilson the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary at Parliament House in Canberra.
These postcards and emails were part of the Make Poverty History campaign to push the federal government to increase its aid contribution.
Jasmin Wells one of the three primary school students commented: “I was a bit excited. We got to take lots of pictures,” and when prompt about handing the postcard to the government she replied: “to help the poor people”.
Next week a UN Millennium summit of world leaders will be held in New York to discuss the Millennium Development Goals so this is a crucial time for all Australians to show their support.
So far 43,000 white arm bands had been sold to the Catholic Schools and organisations around Australia by Caritas Australia which is part of the Make Poverty History coalition where the bands distributed across the world are a symbol of solidarity that poverty must be made history.
On the 10th September 2005 this Saturday will be a white arm bands day but Caritas Australia has asked Catholic Schools to change the White Band Solidarity Day to Friday where many of the schools are holding special assemblies to mark the occasion.
Caritas Australia believes that is it important for the youth of Australia to be aware of social justice issues such as poverty and has actively campaigned for greater awareness of the Millennium Development Goals through various educational material and this year's Project Compassion theme, "The Challenge is Poverty, The Time is Now'.