The Smith Family

Dead cats don’t belong in charity bins. Same goes for sex toys, dirty nappies, sharp knives, broken furniture and the leftovers from your Christmas dinner. But try telling that to the people who’ve dumped hundreds of tonnes of crap in the charity bins of suburban Sydney and Melbourne this past week.

According to news reports in both the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun, people in our eastern states’ most “affluent” suburbs decided the local Salvos, Smith Family or St Vincent de Paul charity bin was a more convenient way of getting rid of unwanted Christmas detritus than paying a visit to their local tip. The measly $12 entrance fee to most local council tips clearly proving far too expensive for their “affluent” tastes.

Dumping broken furniture, dirty clothing or unusable bric-a-brac is not charity. And our suburbs have not been suddenly overcome by an urgency to give to others. Stuffing your local goodwill bin full of unwanted stuff (some living) helps no one. It’s just thoughtless, lazy and selfish.

Continue reading "Only the selfish dump their crap in charity bins" »

I was heartened last week to note the launch of the GenerationOne project to address Indigenous disadvantage in Australia and in particular, the approach the campaign has taken towards reaching out to the younger generation to “make a difference in our lifetime”.

It is certainly not the first time such a grand plan to address the gap between non-Indigenous Australians and Indigenous has been announced, however the backing of high calibre celebrities and notable businesspeople goes a long way towards bringing this idea to the attention of mainstream media – something many similar projects have failed to achieve.

This is an issue that requires the attention of all Australians, however individuals can often feel powerless in the face of such an immense and longstanding disparity, not knowing how one person can make a difference. 

Continue reading "A program for change with room for everyone" »