A POWERFUL new alliance of Catholic, Anglican and Uniting Church organisations has called on Australians to write to their MPs in the lead up to the federal election demanding a national strategy to address poverty.
The Christian Community Services Against Poverty coalition launched its pre-election campaign called ‘Vote [1] No More Poverty’ on June 24 at Parliament House, Canberra.
President of the national social justice committee of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Terry McCarthy, said it was time for state and federal politicians to stop passing the buck and start working together to form a national strategy to tackle poverty.
Mr McCarthy said there were 3.6 million Australians living on a household income of under $400 a week and more than 800,000 children living in a jobless household.
Chairman of Catholic Welfare Australia, Fr Joe Caddy, told the launch that politicians must commit to a target for combating poverty.
Jesuit Social Services policy director, Fr Peter Norden, said Australia’s Catholic bishops had warned of a growing divide between the rich and the poor a decade ago in their paper, ‘Common Wealth for the Common Good’.
Canberra and Goulburn Auxiliary Bishop Pat Power reminded people of the words of former Governor-General, Sir William Deane, who said a society can be best judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable members.
Also attending were Anglican Bishop Philip Huggins, who chairs Anglicare Australia, and Professor James Haire, the former president of the Uniting Church in Australia and the new executive director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.
Rev Haire said the Federal Government must place poverty on an equal footing with security as key national issues deserving of attention.
Those forming Christian Community Services Against Poverty are Anglicare Australia, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, Catholic Health Australia, Catholic Welfare Australia, the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, Jesuit Social Services, the St Vincent de Paul Society and UnitingCare Australia.
