[Australia] Young intolerant of poverty: Costello

from The Age

By Barney Zwartz

YOUNG people were leading the battle against poverty, World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello said last night.

"Young people understand that poverty is the new slavery issue — it's the moral challenge of our time," Mr Costello told a public meeting at Swinburne University.

He said that baby boomers' parents asked whether there was life after death, but baby boomers asked whether there was life before death. Baby boomers focused on building security and quality of life but "the next generation has a moral nuance, and asks why not quality of life for all".

Mr Costello said that in a marked generational change, young Australians showed an intolerance for poverty. "They ask why is it like this — they don't just accept that people are poor because they are lazy or stupid or corrupt, and we're off the hook.

"They say it's stupid that any child dies from bad drinking water when we have access to any number of mobile phones and DVDs."

"People say if there are poor in Australia, that's a problem, but beyond our borders we equivocate. Young people don't think like that because of their global culture. They ask, 'Why does our ethical duty stop at Australian waters?' "

Mr Costello said that young people travelled widely, schools taught about global injustice, and the issue resonated through such influences as singer Bob Geldof and Live Aid concerts. When he debated Liberal MP Bruce Bilson on the subject at Monash University recently, "they were 10-deep outside the door. There's been nothing like it since the Vietnam war."