The leader of the Salvation Army in Australia has defended his organisation after his daughter was given tickets for a Paul McCartney's show in Melbourne which were originally intended for homeless people .
The seven tickets were initially given to homeless people by Beatles fan Chris McDonald, according to The Guardian newspaper.
However, four hours before the show, two of the ticket holders were unable to attend the concert and returned them, the Salvation Army major Brendan Nottle said.
"At the last minute, two tickets were returned and (a manager) made the decision to give them to my daughter (Ash Nottle). It had absolutely had nothing to do with me," Nottle told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
"The manager did the ring around of other homeless people and volunteer staff and wasn’t able to move them because it was so late."
Nottle said his daughter had accepted the tickets understanding that she would be at the concert to "look out for" the five homeless people at the concert. Ash Nottle attended the concert with her partner.
The Salvation Army will reimburse the donor for all seven tickets, according to Nottle. He also declared that concert tickets were not an appropriate donation for homeless people.
"When you’re working with homeless people, to be blunt, do homeless people need tickets to Paul McCartney or do they need a roof over their head?" he said.
"We are not Ticketmaster, we are not concert promoters, we don’t do that stuff and we get it wrong sometimes, you know."
