MORE than 40 young Queenslanders made Tamworth the highlight of their road trip yesterday in a bid to end world poverty.
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The road-trippers were taking part in the Oaktree Foundation’s End Poverty Roadtrip to raise awareness of devastating poverty in developing nations.
Oaktree community liaison Caitlin Gordon-King is taking part in the trip from Brisbane to Canberra and said some of her fellow road-trippers had felt the sting of poverty first-hand.
“I’ve always been really passionate about countering inequality,” she said.
“It’s deeply, deeply unfair that overseas our neighbours are really suffering for no other reason than their geographic location.”
The road-trippers challenge the notion of Generation Y being self-absorbed and glued to their smartphones.
“I definitely count it as a stereotype that young people are apathetic,” she said.
“Social media can actually be a tool for effecting change.”
She said the road-trippers had used Twitter to reach thousands of people who otherwise would have remained in the dark about their cause.
The enthusiastic young people stopped in Bicentennial Park and chatted to locals about poverty, chalked the pathways and gained more signatures for their petition to present to Parliament in Canberra at the end of the trip.
In the nation’s capital they will workshop with Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek and Greens leader Christine Milne, and meet with other MPs.
Ms Gordon-King said the government’s decision to cut $8 billion in foreign aid from the budget would be detrimental, and that Australia had a “unique opportunity” to discuss world poverty with the G20 approaching.