Cardinal Pell Makes Poor Comment on Poverty in Australia

Cardinal Pell should come and spend a day with me in my work with an NGO supporting people in poverty including those at risk of homelessness before he makes statements claiming wealth distribution is "pretty good" in this country.

Every day I engage with people struggling to survive on pensions who also deal with issues related to mental health and substance abuse. I invite the Cardinal to walk the streets of inner Brisbane with me and try telling these people about rising living standards.

Perhaps the Cardinal will join me at Sorry Day this weekend to hear the story of poverty in Indigenous Communities across this country.

I suggest the Cardinal prepare for his immersion experience by reading the The Poverty in Australia Report 2012 from ACOSS. The report shows that poverty in Australia remains a persistent problem with an estimated 2,265,000 people or 12.8% of all people living below the internationally accepted poverty line used to measure financial hardship in wealthy countries.