With black forest, blueberry, choc-chip, apple cinnamon and carrot cakes, organiser said the stack of 100 cupcakes was a symbol of the federal budget.

As Ann Sudmalis, Carmel McCallum, Fiona Phillips and Steve Ryan looked on, spokesman Marty Richardson described how this year less than one cupcake would be spent on foreign aid, and yet it achieves so much. 

“In 2014 alone, Australian Aid helped 1.3 million more children into school, provided safe drinking water for 2.9 million people, vaccinated 2.3 million children and so much more,” he said.

Tara Culey, a 19-year-old university student from Gerringong, spoke of how European countries are on average twice as generous as Australia whilst the UK, with more than double Australia’s debt levels, gives three times as much. 

“Australia is in danger of becoming an international scrooge, being wealthy but not willing to share,” she said.

During the afternoon tea, leaders from twenty local churches came forward to express their support for higher aid levels. 

They brought with them the signatures of hundreds of church members who share this concern for addressing global poverty.  Included among the church leaders was Lt Matthew Sutcliffe, local Salvation Army officer, who outlined the Army’s position on aid, which calls for greater generosity from our Federal Government.

The event closed with a call for greater generosity. 

“Imagine the millions of people who would benefit if we share just one more cupcake,” organisers said.