Vic bushfires: Kevin Sheedy urges national lottery to aid recovery
Kevin Sheedy is pushing for a national lottery for bushfire aid, saying it is the most simple way of helping people in dire need and would highlight the Australian spirit.
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Legendary AFL coach Kevin Sheedy has called for a national lottery to supercharge fundraising efforts across Australia for bushfire relief and recovery.
The proud Victorian is adamant a lottery is the most simple way of helping people in dire need and would highlight the Australian spirit.
It comes as bushfire-ravaged Mallacoota is reopened today.
“We’ve got five million people in Victoria, multiply that by $50, $40, $20 — even parents and grandparents would buy their kids a ticket in a $10 lottery,” Sheedy said.
“You’d raise a lot of money and that money would go to the bushfire relief.
“It’s not that hard and it would be a beautiful thing for people that run lotteries to do it.”
There is precedent for goodwill national lotteries in Australia and around the world.
Sports in the UK, including the British Olympic team, have benefited from a national lottery since 1997.
The $102 million to build the Sydney Opera House was largely paid for by a state lottery.
“I’ve got no doubt everybody in Victoria would buy a lottery ticket,” Sheedy said.
The Princes Highway between Cann River and Mallacoota — which had been closed since the New Year’s Eve bushfires — will re-open at 8.30am.
Hundreds of people will return to the small town in the first 24 hours to collect caravans and other belongings they were forced to leave behind.
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Holiday-makers are being urged to return to East Gippsland to boost the local economy.
Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said: “I think they are starting to feel ready to have visitors back in there.”
The state government announced the first round of money from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal will be distributed to those most affected by the fires.