Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank members for their contributions to the debate on this bill, including the member for Bennelong. I thank him for his continuing interest and support of young athletes, in particular, after a long and distinguished career on the court and, as importantly, in the administration of sporting services. Across the sporting world, he is widely admired; and I very much appreciate his comments today. I also thank Steve Irons, who is a legend in the AFL in the west and a great advocate for extra funding for new stadia and for all sort of investments into health in Western Australia. The member for Swan is certainly a strong advocate for such investment to flow into Western Australia from Canberra. I very much support the work he is doing—if not financially at the moment, certainly in spirit. I hope that once we are able to clean up Labor's mess that we inherited last September, we can provide more financial support to many worthy sporting causes in Western Australia and, indeed, across the country. I also wanted to quickly reflect on some of the comments—initially made by the member for Makin but repeated in contributions by others opposite—that put some incorrect facts on the record. Let me provide some clarification.

The member for Makin made reference to the so-called cuts in MYEFO of $17 million, but these were to funding commitments made by the Labor government during an election campaign. It would be without precedent for an incoming government to honour not only their own election commitments but, on top of that, those made by an opposing party going into an election. Given that Labor had not put any money aside for these in six years of government, I think people understand that they were hollow promises, to say the least.

There was also criticism around $22.8 million in cuts to the Australian Sports Commission. They build on cuts to this very area that Labor made when they were in government. We want to make sure that we can streamline the back office services. We want to provide as much support as we possibly can to athletes. Only last Friday I made announcements about the further support that we will provide to elite athletes by, again, taking money away from administrative services and putting it into direct athlete support. That was received with great praise. I am very proud of the fact that this government have been able to provide more financial support to our athletes who will compete on the national stage and international stage for our country, both those who are already household names and those who soon will be.

The government also committed in the budget last night to just over $100 million over three years for a new program, Sporting Schools, which will provide to 850,000 primary school children attending over 5,000 schools a program which will see further encouragement of participation in sports. The interesting thing to remember and in particular to remind the member for Makin of is that Labor did not commit long term to the Active After-school Communities program. Indeed, there was no funding provided beyond 31 December this year. So we are providing continuity in the support of those schools. We believe more children will receive a benefit under this program and ultimately take up sport through the support that they receive and develop an interest in sport that we hope will be held for their lifetime.

The purpose of the bill, as others have mentioned, is to protect major sporting event sponsorship and licensing revenue from being undermined by unauthorised commercial use of event indicia and images for the following events: the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup of 2015; the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup of 2015; and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

It is worth noting that the federal government committed $156 million to the Commonwealth Games in last night's budget. It is to be delivered before the Queensland government expected it to be. It will be delivered to the Queensland government for infrastructure in support of the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast before 30 June this year. There is a significant timing benefit to the government of Queensland in receiving that money early. I know that it will be applied sensibly. We will work with the state government to make sure not only that we have an amazing 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast but also that we deliver a great legacy to the people of the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia.

This bill is consistent with the approach the Australian government took when it legislated to protect indicia and images for the Sydney Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The bill will protect against the unauthorised use of a range of words and expressions associated with each event. In addition, the bill provides protection against certain images that suggest or are likely to suggest a connection with these events. In providing these protections, the rights of the community to freedom of expression must also be respected. A pragmatic approach has been taken, with generic words and references excluded from any list. It is made clear in the bill that the legislation is not intended to increase the burden on businesses or affect their everyday operations. The bill fully protects existing right holders who use indicia to carry out business functions.

The bill, though, also includes appropriate measures to limit the possibility of the importation of goods that seek to ambush each event's marketing. This includes monitoring of imported goods and the ability to seize goods marked with unauthorised indicia and images at Australia's borders. This bill will protect event owners and those companies investing in the events, reducing the potential reliance on government. Importantly, this bill implements commitments made by successive governments as part of the vetting process to host these prestigious international events and will continue to enhance our outstanding reputation as a major event host.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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