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A national lottery would lift our hearts – and make us feel like Gina Rinehart

For a few bucks a week, we regular mortals could be helping struggling sports in dire financial need and contributing to the lift of the entire nation. And not just in the sporting arena.

Gina Rinehart most generously funded 90 of our recent Olympians, mainly in swimming, rowing and volleyball.
Gina Rinehart most generously funded 90 of our recent Olympians, mainly in swimming, rowing and volleyball.

Should Australia have a national lottery similar to the UK’s, funding not only our sporting gods but our art mavens too? I think so, particularly in the lead-up to the Brisbane Olympics where we really would like to end up euphorically high on the medal tally once again. And Russia, more likely, will be back in contention by then.

The recent success in the Paris pool has demonstrated the benefits of lavish funding to select athletes, thanks to Gina Rinehart’s largesse. She most generously funded 90 of our recent Olympians, mainly in swimming, rowing and volleyball – but extending that love to even more of our elite athletes, via a lottery’s profits, would be a worthwhile endeavour. Imagine the feelgood factor. For a few bucks a week we regular mortals could be doing our bit, helping struggling sports in dire financial need and contributing to the lift of the entire nation. And not just in the sporting arena – the lottery could be funding the next Baz Luhrmann, Alexis Wright or Simone Young too.

The lottery could be funding the next Baz Luhrmann. Picture: AFP
The lottery could be funding the next Baz Luhrmann. Picture: AFP

Britain’s National Lottery was created 30 years ago, and over that time it has raised the equivalent of $90 billion for things like the local film industry, the renovation of Wembley Stadium, habitat restoration projects and the protection of heritage buildings. The National Lottery was specifically revved up before the London Olympics, where Britain enjoyed a stupendous haul of 29 gold medals. Direct correlation? I think so. People bought tickets knowing they were directly helping the Olympic effort; this was a national task.

Enlightened government policy in the UK has meant that most of the money spent on National Lottery tickets is channelled back into the community, whereas much of the lottery profit in Australia ends up in the hands of secretive families and private companies. A national arts and sports lottery, generating funds for heart-lifting projects, feels necessary. But would our federal government ever be courageous enough to stare down the states and change the current lottery landscape – to create a new, visionary game?

A national lottery is gambling, yes, but it doesn’t quite seem like it – it feels more like a creative tax to fund worthwhile projects. Meanwhile Australian artists are suffering, mightily. The recent Artists as Workers report looked into the economic conditions of Australia’s 47,500 professional artists. The findings were depressing. It’s increasingly hard to make a sustainable living in the arts. Mean total income is $54,500 – 26 per cent below the workforce average. Only one in 10 of our artists work full-time on creative pursuits, and financial insecurity is worsening.

Many Olympic athletes are struggling too. The Albanese Government has increased taxpayer-funded grants, but according to the Australian Sports Commission, elite Olympians (those considered a significant podium chance) were eligible for payments of only $37,500. And that’s just the superstars. If an Aussie won gold in Paris they got a bonus of $20,000. I expected it to be more. As a nation, we get a lot of bang for our buck out of them.

Rod McGeoch, who led Sydney’s Olympic bid in 2000, is all for a new national lottery that helps both athletes and artists. “I’d be totally in support of it,” he recently declared. “We’ve had a number of sports come out and say that unless they get some new funding they’re in big trouble.”

The Albanese Government is struggling for stickability, vision, the grand gesture. What is its legacy so far? Where are the grand banner projects that’ll be lauded in history? Imagine if a national lottery was created where funds were channelled back to deserving sports people, artists and community projects; to those worthy causes that lift a nation’s heart. A difficult task, but not impossible. A visionary task.

Read related topics:Gina Rinehart
Nikki Gemmell
Nikki GemmellColumnist

Nikki Gemmell's columns for the Weekend Australian Magazine have won a Walkley award for opinion writing and commentary. She is a bestselling author of over twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her work has received international critical acclaim and been translated into many languages.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/a-national-lottery-would-lift-our-hearts-and-make-us-feel-like-gina-rinehart/news-story/d3f1bf87f4390e404e93c646a6047c6e