Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to the bill, and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of the bill is to protect sponsorship and licensing revenue from the International Cricket Council, ICC, Men's T20 World Cup 2022 from being undermined by ambush marketing. Ambush marketing is the unauthorised commercial use of event indicia (or expressions) and images. This will be achieved by including the T20 World Cup as a recognised major sporting event under the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2014 (the act).

The bill also removes a schedule relating to two historical sporting events that will no longer provide protections under the act, being the Asian Football Confederation, AFC, Cup 2015 and the ICC World Cup 2015.

The bill is consistent with the approach the Australian government took when it legislated to protect the indicia and images for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

It also meets a commitment by the Australian government to provide such intellectual property rights protection for the T20 world cup.

The hosting of the T20 world cup in Australia provides a unique opportunity to showcase our country to the world from a tourism, trade and event delivery perspective. It will further strengthen Australia's reputation as a world-class host of major international sporting events, with the Australian government playing a critical role in facilitating the appropriate environment that makes such success possible.

The T20 world cup will see the world's 10 best women's teams and 16 best men's teams come to Australia to play 20/20 cricket, with potential broadcast and digital audiences reaching in excess of 1.5 billion people from more than 200 countries worldwide. These T20 world cup teams will represent the pinnacle of international sporting competition and include some of the world's most talented male and female cricketers. The women's T20 world cup tournament will take place in February to March of 2022, with the men's T20 world cup tournament scheduled for October-November in the same year.

For the owners and organisers of the T20 world cup, this international profile provides the opportunity to showcase the sport of cricket, to build a legacy and to attract commercial partners that will invest in the event and cricket into the future. Event owners and organisers rely heavily on revenue generated by television rights, ticket sales, sponsorship and licensing to ensure their event can be delivered and continues to be an attractive and viable financial proposition to future host countries. It is this profile and these commercial realities that necessitate the sorts of protections proposed for the T20 world cup in this bill.

Major events have long been targets of those that would seek to create an impression of association with the event in order to achieve commercial gain without having purchased the rights and therefore invested in the sport, to claim that association. This act, known as 'ambush marketing by association', has the capacity to diminish the value of sponsorship, reduce incentives for organisations to enter into commercial arrangements with events and reduce the overall event revenue. In turn, this has the ability to increase the financial impact on government to support such events.

The bill will protect the use of a range of expressions associated with the T20 world cup from ambush marketing and unlicensed commercial use in the lead-up to, during and in the immediate aftermath of each tournament.

In addition to protecting specific event related terminology, the bill also provides protection to certain images that in the circumstances of their presentation suggest, or are likely to suggest, a connection with the T20 world cup. These images may be either visual or aural representations.

While it is important to protect T20 world cup sponsors from ambush marketing, the rights of the community to freedom of expression must also be respected, particularly in relation to words that have passed into common usage. A pragmatic approach has been taken with generic words and references excluded from the list of protected expressions. It must also be emphasised that restrictions on the usage of T20 world cup indicia and images will apply only to their unlicensed commercial use.

A number of exceptions will exist in relation to the T20 world cup allowing for:

The T20 World Cup schedule proposed in the bill will cease to have effect as of 30 November 2021, approximately one year after the completion of the T20 World Cup. This is consistent with other major sporting events protected by the act.

(Quorum formed)

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