Mr Lutton, of Cronulla, was among Sutherland Shire residents who met Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra recently.

He was part of a 27-strong contingent of supporters for The Voices for Justice gathering, part of the Micah Challenge of global Christian action against poverty and injustice.

``Part of my interest in overseas aid comes out of the trip I did to Papua New Guinea in 1998 and my exposure trips to Bangladesh,'' Mr Lutton said.

The former Bundeena Primary and Cronulla High School student said he had observed first-hand poverty in Fiji and Timor-Leste, and noted there had been some success in relieving it.

``There used to be 12 million deaths of children under five years and this is down to 8.8 million deaths now,'' Mr Lutton said.

In his Canberra meeting with MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, he commended the Coalition for matching the Government's commitment to increase the level of overseas aid from the present level of 0.34 per cent of gross national income to 0.5 per cent.

Mr Morrison said his April experience of walking the Kokoda Track with young people from the shire and Bankstown had made him determined to be a leading voice within the Coalition on this cause.

Mr Lutton said should Australia agree to the globally agreed target of 0.7 per cent acting with the millennium development goals of the 189 United Nations member states including Australia, the aim to halve world poverty by 2015 could be achieved.

Residents from the Barton and Banks electorates were among those who attended the Voices for Justice event.

The group, which included a number of children, met with MP for Banks, Daryl Melham, and MP for Barton, Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

Campaign details: http://www.micah

challenge.org. au.