Poverty can be ended say Notre Dame students

Students preparing for the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Roadtrip

6^th May 2010

1000 young Australian ambassadors are about to lead a nationwide campaign against global poverty this month. Notre Dame students, Sejla Perviz, Bianca Saggers and Stephanie Holt from the Fremantle Campus along with Claire Harris, Jessica McAlpine and Hugo Li from the Sydney Campus, have been selected to join the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Roadtrip: the biggest continuous mobilisation of its kind ever seen in Australia.

“We’re taking to the road and speaking to people all over Australia. We expect to talk to over 100,000 people in their communities in every state and territory of Australia,” explained Sejla.

Ambassadors like the Notre Dame students will host forums, stage meetings with regional and national MPs, and take part in community events to encourage everyday Australians to speak out and participate.

“In just one generation we’ve more than halved global poverty. In 1990, 42% of the world was living in extreme poverty, now it’s 19% - this shows how success is possible,” said Bianca.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Ambassadors will converge on Canberra from the May 12 to 14 for a history making summit focused on what Australia can do to end poverty.

Ms Viv Benjamin, the National Campaign Director said, “Our aid can have an enormous impact – for example Australia’s own aid effort has helped wipe out Polio in the Pacific. Through these efforts this crippling disease will no longer disable the people of our region. We should be proud!

“We are calling on the Australian Government to do its fair share to end global poverty by investing just 70 cents from every $100 of our national income in effective aid solutions.”

For more information visit www.theroadtrip.com.au

Media contact: Notre Dame student, Sejla Perviz - 0430 002 764