Australia's Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaign will benefit from A$100M ($74.6M) in "projected new funding" as the federal government revealed plans to establish a sports lottery two years before the opening ceremony to arrest its "national decline in world sport," according to Chip Le Grand of THE AUSTRALIAN. On Monday, Sports Minister Greg Hunt will outline a national sports plan which includes "the creation of a British-style lottery as a new funding source for Australian teams and a national integrity tribunal to determine doping, match-fixing and other serious charges against athletes." The new sports court, to be funded by the Australian government, would "remove the conflict of interest at the heart of the current anti-doping regime, which requires national sporting bodies to sit in judgment of their own athletes in drugs cases." The national sports plan -- still being developed in consultation with the sports -- will provide an "overarching policy framework covering participation, high-performance sport, preventive health and integrity measures." The plan is being formulated against Australia's "slide down the Olympic standings, a shrinking sports budget and a bitter dispute" between Australian Sports Commission Chair John Wylie and Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates. One of the "few issues" Wylie and Coates agree on is the "need for Australia to adopt a British-style lottery." Modeling by lottery operator Tatts Group estimated that a national sports and heritage lottery would generate A$50M ($37.3M) per year in extra sport funding (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/22).
