EVENTS like the St Vincent de Paul CEO sleepout are helping to shake up the “stereotype” of homelessness, Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said today.

“The homeless person when I was a kid was typically what you’d call a ‘wino’, a man in his 60’s riddled with grog, and essentially broken down physically,” he said.

“Nowadays a lot of homeless people are young. A lot of them are women. Many are in their 20’s. I think Vinnies have really helped people aware of that.”

Mr Turnbull was one of many CEOs participating in the Sydney sleepout in June, and received a generous $10,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Canberra South to boost his amount raised up to $47,815 – helping Vinnies achieve their goal of raising over $5 million for homeless support services.

A direct contribution was made by Steve Thompson of SAP Australia who donated the funds to Rotary Club branch.

Today Mr Turnbull met with members of the South Rotary at Parliament House and told them he was “grateful for the support.”

“The measure of our humanity is how we treat the neediest among us,” he said.

“That is why it is so important to recognise the generosity of individuals such as Steve and the tireless work of charities such as Rotary.”

Rotary Club Immediate Past President Michael Zarew says he was happy to support Malcom in a “fantastic cause.”

“I think one of the great benefits of being in Rotary is we’re able to carefully select worthy causes like this,” he said.

Mr Turnbull believes events like the CEO sleepout have “really helped raise the profile of Vinnies.”

“I think Vinnies do fantastic work – but there are more good causes than there are dollars. I think Vinnies have been very smart in the CEO sleepout, because they’ve got this captive audience. You could never raise that kind of money from a charity dinner,” he said.

Mr Turnbull says he will be taking part in the CEO Sleepout next year and will hope to top the amount raised this year.