Sleeping out amidst the rough biting cold on Thursday was one experience that Australia's opposition leader Mr Tony Abbott will not forget for a long time.

Equipped with only a sleeping bag and cardboard, Mr Abbott and some 1,000 CEOs from Australia's top companies involved in mining, banking, and other businesses, tried how it is to sleep rough outside the warmth of their homes and be a "homeless" person for a night.

"We should count our blessings ... and we should be more appreciative and sympathetic towards others," he said on Channel 9. "I think there's some important lessons there."

Mr. Abbott joined the rest of corporate Australia and shared 'sleeping quarters' out in parks for a noble cause: to raise enough money that hopefully will decimate or arrest the rising number of homeless people in the country. They have so far raised $4 million for the charity led by St. Vincent de Paul to give homeless people another chance in living in decent homes.

Education for life

According to St Vincent de Paul's operations manager Mike Byrne, the whole experience is another form of education for leaders, managers and CEOs alike because it dispelled speculations and myths about the rationale of a homeless person.

"Homeless is a huge issue up here and every cent we get is a cent we can spend on homelessness, but on another level it's an education tool," operations manager Mike Byrne said. "We get the chance to dispel some of the myths about homelessness."

In Darwin, for instance, Mr Byrne said the CEO got to be acquainted with homeless man Bob Godfrey, who assisted St Vinnies run the event in the area.

Bob has been living on the streets on and off for around seven years, but is soon moving into his own accommodation with the support of St Vinnies, reports from Herald Sun said.

"Bob's been able to show the CEOs that homeless people can be industrial, resourceful and creative and dedicated to something - that they're not all useless people who sit around all day drinking, doing nothing," Mr Byrne said.

"There are a number of CEOs who probably never would have spoken to a homeless person, and they're standing over there talking to Bob realising homeless people are just regular people who have had a few little hiccups along the way. So Bob, even passively, has been a really big part of that education experience."

Homeless Numbers

By the last count in Victoria alone, some 20,000 people were rendered homeless and the figures continue to increase, according to ABC, which quoted Sarah Kahn of the Council for Homeless People as saying that "the problem is pretty big ... and we're hearing from the services that demand is really, really skyrocketing."

In Melbourne, Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd 'slept' with some 180 business executives, who volunteered in the yearly VincentCare CEO Sleepout that organisers said offer to these movers and shakers a first-hand taste of the difficulties entailed with homelessness.

The former prime minister joined a team of corporate executives in Docklands stadium while in Canberra, US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich endured a whole night of chilling 'solid mattress' to help out in the fund-raising program that organisers said collected some $3.7 million for 2011.

That would be a solid jump from last year's bounty of $2.6 million, according to ABC, which saw some 684 executives and politicians braving a nigh of sleeping out in the cold that proved to be a success as this year's participants soared to 1001.

In Sydney, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ralph Norris and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott joined the city's volunteers for the program, with Norris marking the first time that he would have a unique sleeping experience.

Norris said that the act was just one of the charitable initiatives being supported by Australian business leaders yet this particular program pointed to the fact that "there are chief executives who are conscious of the fact that they have community obligations."

John Blewonski of VincentCare told ABC that the Sydney segment attracted 260 business leaders, many of which are repeat participants, furthermore showing that "they've really got behind the cause and are hoping to help us raise that awareness."