Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2014 and, in doing so, I say from the outset that the Labor Party will be supporting this legislation.

The purpose of the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2014 is to prevent the unauthorised commercial use of certain indicia and images associated with the following three sporting events: firstly, the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup of 2015, with matches scheduled to be held from 9 January to 31 January 2015; secondly, the    International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2015, to be jointly hosted with New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015; and thirdly, the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, to be held from 4 April to 15 April 2018. These are all very important events, not only for Australia but for sporting followers around the world and particularly with respect to the Commonwealth Games, an event that I have no doubt most Australians will be keenly looking forward to. There is a great deal of interest with respect to all of these events—not surprisingly—and I will return to some of those matters later on.

This bill is, in many ways, similar to previous legislation that was used for the Sydney Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne—that is, the Sydney 2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 1996 and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2005. The most significant difference between this bill and the previous legislation is that the 2014 bill is designed as a generic piece of legislation which can be amended to apply to future sporting events by insertion of new schedules if and when required. Each of the three schedules in the 2014 bill have limited dates of application, so they will cease to have effect one year after the relevant sporting events have concluded. The legislation itself will not be repealed. In contrast, the Sydney games act and the Melbourne 2006 act were drafted to apply to just one event, with a sunset clause repealing the legislation 12 months after the respective games. That is a significant difference inasmuch as there will be no need to repeat this kind of legislation every time there is a major sporting event in Australia; you simply change the relevant schedules which apply to it. I believe that that is sensible; it saves the parliament time and it also provides, in my view, a degree of certainty for future events when they are being negotiated by all of the different parties.

Australia has a well-earned reputation for hosting major sporting events. I thought that was very much on display in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and also in the Commonwealth Games in 2006 in Melbourne, where there was no doubt in my mind that the hosting of those games did Australians proud. The games were certainly a credit to all of those people who were involved in any way whatsoever. It is a reputation that we need to maintain if we are going to continue to bid for future games, and I have no doubt that we will. In order to maintain that reputation we need to ensure that all of those parties who have an interest in putting money towards the hosting of those events are properly and rightfully protected.

Labor understands the significant risks posed to the ability of organisers to attract commercial partners from what you might refer to as 'ambush marketeers'—that is, those people who would seek to profit from creating an impression of being associated in some way with these major events when in fact they have no direct association whatsoever. Labor therefore supports the sensible protections in the bill provided by the commercial benefit test that applies to the use of material. Restrictions will of course apply only to unlicensed commercial use of the protected indicia and images. The aim of this test is to prevent an unauthorised user from applying the protected indicia and images to suggest a formal association with the events, which would allow them in turn to gain a commercial benefit. Labor also supports the exceptions in the bill that will, for example, recognise existing commercial arrangements, allow the use of indicia and images for the purpose of criticism and review and allow an athlete to make factual statements about their own achievements.

I want to talk more broadly about the importance of these events to Australia and, indeed, to any country that has the opportunity to host major world events. Today there is no doubt that these events are considered to be big business. They not only generate billions of dollars; they also cost billions of dollars to host. Therefore, there is a great deal of risk attached to them. They are important to the communities and the cities that host them, because those cities inevitably get some kind of economic benefit from the event itself, whether it is in the form of increased tourism or in the form of additional expenditure with retail businesses. In fact, the events create a flow-on effect, with money flowing through to the entire community. So, not surprisingly, there is considerable competition between countries and between cities to host those events. We have seen in recent years that the events are not only better organised and better run than they might have been in the past but the facilities that are provided to the athletes themselves are much better than they might have been in years gone by. Athletes expect to have modern, up-to-date facilities that enable them, in turn, to perform at their best. So the competition for hosting these events is very fierce—and understandably so.

In order to pay for all those events, for the facilities that go with them and for the infrastructure that is required by the cities at the time, as we saw with both Sydney and Melbourne, considerable funds are required. Those funds come not only from the hosting governments but also from sponsorship that is paid by people who wish to be associated in one way or another with those events. For that sponsorship, obviously, something is expected in return. What is expected is the right to exclusive use of certain logos and images that will then be able to be marketed by those people who put the money up-front or, in the case of the media, for exclusive televising and broadcasting of those events. That in turn enables them to generate funds through their advertisers and so on. The bottom line is that considerable money is required—there is no doubt about that.

If people are going to put their money into a venture, regardless of what it is, they need to have certain rights and protections. This is no different to when someone puts a product out there and they have protections under our trademark and copyright laws. The sponsorship, however, is essential, because governments cannot do it alone anymore, and we know that without the influx of the money that is brought into these events by the private sector, it would not be possible today to host the kinds of events that we are referring to. These are not just national events but international events. If we are going to ask sponsors and partners to put money into the events, then those certainties have to be provided and that is exactly what this legislation does.

I note that, as part of the legislation, the Customs department has the authority to seize infringing goods in accordance with the Trade Marks Act 1995 and the Copyright Act 1968. One might well ask, 'Well, why don't we simply rely on those acts?' The fact is that those acts do not go far enough in terms of protecting the rights that have been agreed to between the Commonwealth and the states at the time they were putting together their submissions for the hosting of the events. They expect certain protections, and this legislation delivers on the agreements that were reached between the various parties at the time that the bids were being put into place.

The use of logos and the like is undoubtedly a problem that occurs not only when it comes to the hosting of major sporting events but also in the badging of sporting apparel and the like. We have seen examples in so many places of the world where those logos are used illegally by manufacturers in order to profit from the legitimate work of others. The same applies when it comes to the goods that are likely to be sold in conjunction with the sporting events that are referred to in this legislation. We all know from going to these sporting events that products are sold with images, logos and the like, and that have been specifically made as souvenir items for the events. The last thing we want to do is in any way allow people to undermine people who have legitimately invested in those products by sponsoring the event.

The hosting of these kinds of events has two elements to it. One is, clearly, the economic benefits that go to the hosting city—and the hosting country for that matter. The other is what it does for the promotion of sports in Australia and throughout the world. For athletes who want to participate in sports at the highest level, being able to participate in a world recognised event is probably the height of their ambitions. If they are going to do that we want to make sure that we put on an event that enables them to be properly recognised for their performance. I think Australia has done that very well in the past, but we need to continue to do that. When it comes to the peak of their performance competitions, supporting those athletes goes far beyond just making sure that we have the best event possible; it also goes to the support that they require in their journey towards becoming an elite athlete.

I note that in the budget last night there were $22.8 million of cuts to the Australian Sports Commission. I am not quite sure how this is going to flow out, because the Australian Sports Commission runs a number of programs. It will be interesting to see how this money that has been cut filters its way through our sporting communities. I have no doubt that the $22.8 million of cuts to the Australian Sports Commission will have an impact on athletes in this country. I am not really surprised that we have seen those cuts, although I am very much disappointed, because I suspect that our athletes are not overly well supported in comparison to the support that I am aware of that is given to athletes in other countries.

These $22.8 million of cuts to the Sports Commission were on top of more than $17 million in funding cuts, by the government, which on coming to office reversed sporting communities funding that had been committed to by the previous Labor governments. This was sporting communities funding that went to local sporting clubs in and around Australia for the upgrading of their facilities. I have got no doubt that members of this place would be very much aware of the importance—

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like you to draw the member back to the bill that is before the House, which bears no relevance to the nonsense comments that he is making now. I think that is entirely within the standing orders, and I would ask you to enforce the standing orders.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are introducing argument to me. You have had your point. The member for Makin will continue.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In response to the minister's interjection, the bill is about the support that the government gives to sporting events by way of this legislation. If we are talking about sporting events, then I believe it is totally appropriate to talk about the support we give to sportsmen and sportswomen of this country through other measures that this government has responsibility for.

As I was saying, prior to the 2013 election, the previous Labor government had committed some $17 million by way of sporting communities funding to sporting communities around the country. This supported local clubs, particularly by upgrading their facilities, many of which are owned by local councils. My view is that it is important, if we are going to support and host events of the type that are referred to in this legislation, that we go the whole way and that we in fact support our sportsmen and sportswomen from when they are juniors right through to when they become athletes on the world stage. I am disappointed to think that not only did the budget cut $22.8 million from the Australian Sports Commission last night, but that was in addition to the $17 million that they cut from the Sporting Communities initiative.

Only on Saturday night I attended an AGM and a presentation night of the Salisbury Athletic Club in my electorate of Makin. The issue of funding and fundraising and finances of the club was an important issue to that club, just as it is to every other club that I visit on a fairly regular basis throughout my electorate. Raising funds and having good facilities for them is not easy, and they depend very much on the support that this federal government provides through the budget and on what their state and local governments also provide. But what is indeed interesting, with respect to the cuts made under the Sporting Communities initiative of the previous government—the $17 million I referred to earlier—is that they cut in some places but not in all. It was interesting that, for example, they did not cut and in fact kept the $10 million for the upgrade of the Brookvale Oval. And guess where that is? It is in the Prime Minister's electorate. They also, from recollection, did not cut the $7 million plus upgrade of the recreation centre in the electorate of the member for Sturt, the leader of government business in this place and the Minister for Education. So they were very selective where they made those cuts.

As I have said from the outset, the government supports this legislation because it is important legislation with respect to Australia's ability to bid for sporting events in this country. Our obligations to support sporting events in this country go beyond this legislation and embrace a whole range of responsibilities that I believe the government has. I have said in the past, and I will say it again, that my view is that we ought to do more for the sporting people in this country. We ought to do more for the clubs that support the athletes throughout the country, most of whom are volunteers. This being National Volunteer Week, it is a tremendous opportunity to support and acknowledge all of the tireless work that volunteers around this country do towards shaping these athletes so that they can go on to represent us in these international events. I support the direction of money into our grassroots sports to a much larger extent then we have done in the past. We will not have elite athletes if we do not get them started on the right footing from when they are young. That is why we should be committing even more money to funding our grassroots sports communities and why I deplore the cuts that have been made by this government to sporting organisations around the country.

With those comments, as I have said from the outset, Labor will support this legislation because it is good legislation. Whilst I am on my feet, I wish well not only to the organisers of the events that I referred to earlier on—the Asian Cup, the Cricket World Cup and the Commonwealth Games—that are coming up in the years ahead but also to all of the athletes who are in training for those events right now. If they are fortunate enough and good enough to compete in them, I wish them well with the events at the time.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an exciting time for sport in Australia. As we cast our eyes to the immediate future we can see that Australia is about to host three major international sporting events. Next year Australia will host the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup from 9 to 31 January and co-host the ICC Cricket World Cup between 14 February and 29 March. Then we look forward to the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast four years from now between 4 April and 15 April in 2018. Hosting sporting events is something Australia is good at and something that the Australian public enjoys. I think it is fair to say that we have a successful record in holding two Olympic Games, rugby and cricket world cups and many Commonwealth and Empire Games over the years, including in Perth in 1962.

It has been the case that hosting international sporting events has required a great deal of preparation and organisation by governments, but this has perhaps never been more true than today. There are many considerations involving many government departments covering issues such as security, immigration, infrastructure and transport that must be taken into account when bidding to host major events, and detailed commitments are made at the bidding stage in written undertakings. One such undertaking made in the case of the three events Australia is about to host concerns the protection of the unauthorised commercial use of certain indicia and images associated with each event, commensurate with the support provided to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Today the government brings before parliament the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2014 to fulfil this commitment and to fulfil an important point of the planning process for the Asia Cup, Cricket World Cup and Commonwealth Games that Australia is about to host. Given the cost of hosting major events, the investment of sponsors is incredibly important to ensuring that the cost does not fall excessively on the taxpayers of this country. Sponsors will spend big money to associate themselves with a major sporting event, and this helps to pay for new stadiums, transport links and other infrastructure that remain for the benefit of the community some time after the event is over. Sponsors certainly need to know that the terms of their agreement will be protected by the hosting country and that the exclusivity of the deal signed will be protected. As the minister said, if sponsors do not have certainty that they are the only business that can directly benefit from official association with the events, they may withdraw or reduce their sponsorship, with negative impact on the taxpayer and potential legal implications following the event.

So it is incumbent on the host country—in this case, Australia—to ensure that there are adequate laws in place to provide for the protection of these significant agreements. We are looking to protect them from ambush marketing within stadia, unauthorised use of the logos of the event and unauthorised use of images or persons associated with the event. As we have seen in the past, companies will stop at little to promote their own companies in the form of ambush marketing. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, authorities detained 36 female fans for their part in a stunt on behalf of the Dutch beer brewers Bavaria during a game between the Netherlands and Denmark. The 36 fans were wearing bright orange dresses featuring the Bavaria logo. The fans were removed during the match and an investigation was subsequently carried out by FIFA.

It is true that Australia already has an intellectual property regime in place, including for the protection of logos, indicia and images as well as quick access to registration and legal remedies. It is also true that there are varying degrees of legislation at the state and territory level to support commercial rights protection for major sporting events. However, the issue confronting the parliament is that the existing frameworks do not provide the level of protection that addresses the unique need of sporting events. As the minister outlined, an analysis has identified that not all event indicia can be protected under the Trade Marks Act 1995 and the Copyright Act 1968; and limited legislation exists at the state or territory government level relating to protection against ambush marketing, with no consistent approach. So the government has been consulting with various government departments to produce the best piece of legislation possible to address this issue. This has been a cross-agency matter involving the Attorney-General's Department, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Department of Communications, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Government Solicitor, IP Australia, and the Treasury. Obviously, with all of those departments involved, sport is very high on the importance list for the government, and this particular bill has some weight to make sure that these sporting events survive.

The bill is based on similar special legislation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and will provide the pragmatic set of protections required in a way that complements the various major event provisions existing in the states and territories. There are some sensible exemptions to protect the media's right to factual reporting, which are of course necessary. To ensure transparency of the process, the legislation provides for a register that will be established and maintained by event organisers for the primary purpose of ensuring that the public is aware of the identity of those who are authorised to use each event's indicia and images. Importantly, the legislation will commence as soon as possible after 1 July but will cease to have effect a few months following the conclusion of the events. In the case of the 2015 Asia Cup, this is 30 June 2015; for the ICC Cricket World Cup, 31 March 2016; and for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 31 December 2018.

So by enacting these laws the government will be ensuring that Australia's reputation as a go-to host of events is maintained, and it will safeguard the potential for Australia to apply for future events. My only regret is that Perth is not playing a role in the hosting of these two events, particularly the Asia Cup. There has been a view expressed in Perth in relation to the Asia Cup that, aside from the geographical remoteness of Perth, a reason could be Perth's lack of suitable stadia. This is about to change, with a new stadium being constructed at Burswood in my electorate of Swan. I can update the House that the geotechnical works to stabilise the site were completed earlier this year, ahead of schedule, which is a credit to the management of the Liberal National government and Parliamentary Secretary John McGrath, who is overseeing this process. These works are required as the site of the stadium precinct is a former rubbish tip on the Burswood peninsular. I see the Member for Pearce here, and I am sure he was involved in this process as Treasurer for the state of Western Australia at the time, knowing there was a lot of work to be done at that particular site. The site is currently being allowed to settle under 740,000 tonnes of soil surcharge. On 15 April, Premier Barnett announced that a consortium led by Brookfield Multiplex and John Laing had been awarded the contract to design, build, finance and manage the new stadium. So, by the beginning of the 2018 AFL season, Perth will at last have a world-class stadium that will make it a more attractive place to host international events in my electorate of Swan. I see the Minister for Sport is in the chamber at the moment, and I will be pleased to be able to send him an invite to the opening of that stadium when it occurs.

My electorate of Swan will be a major beneficiary of the billion dollar package of infrastructure associated with the development, including better transport links and landscaping. It will not be forgotten how the Labor Party and the local Labor MLA member in particular opposed this stadium development. Actually, it was one of the most amazing oppositions to a piece of sporting infrastructure that I had ever seen in any campaign. It was just being an opposition, and that is all they were doing. Everyone had agreed on the stadium—it was a fantastic location, a fantastic site. The local MLA from Victoria Park actually spent time getting photos with the Premier, with the developers and with the parliamentary secretary who was charged with looking after the stadium. Then his leader of the opposition, when running up to the election, said, 'No, we won't support this stadium; we will keep it at Subiaco'. We never saw the member for Victoria Park again after that statement, up until the date of the election; he was so embarrassed.

An honourable member: He will be at the opening.

I am sure he will be at the opening, yes. The Liberal National government made a positive decision on the stadium, and this was resoundingly endorsed at the last state election. I see the member for Brand here, who I am sure also supports the stadium at Burswood and supports the move of the Eagles to Lathlain.

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It should be in Rockingham!

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. I think you have already done that through the Dockers. The new stadium will be fantastic for Western Australia and for sport. It will enhance Australia's reputation for having stadiums that can host major sporting events.

So the future looks bright for sport in WA. Maybe Perth will, in the future, be in a position to bid for a Commonwealth Games or even for an Olympic Games with its new stadium development. Also there is prospect for another bid for the big one—the FIFA World Cup—at some point in the future. I publicly proposed Burswood as a World Cup venue in 2009 and this may well be an option at some time in the future. We heard from the previous speaker, Mr Zappia, that the opposition is prepared to support this bill, but then he went into a diatribe about the budget that was delivered last night. I will have to check some of those statements because I do not agree with him. If he wants to help the budget and wants to get on with it, he should go to the Senate and tell his people in the Senate to support the repeal of the carbon tax and the mining tax. He should just get out of the way and support this bill and support the repeal of the carbon tax and the mining tax.

I commend the bill to the House.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2014. In essence, this bill is intended to protect major sporting event sponsorship and licensing revenue from being undermined by unauthorised commercial use of event indicia and images associated with the following events: the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup 2015, the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2015 and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

It is worth noting at the outset that this bill is indeed consistent with the approach taken by previous governments when they legislated to protect the indicia and images of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games through the Sydney 2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 1996, 'the Sydney games act', and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2005, respectively.

The most significant difference between the 2014 bill and the previous legislation is in the drafting style. The 2014 bill before us is designed as a generic piece of legislation, which can be amended to apply to future sporting events by the insertion of new schedules. Each of the three new schedules in the 2014 bill have limited dates of application—they will cease to have effect within one year of the relevant sporting event. The legislation itself will not need to be repealed. This approach makes good sense.

Australia has a well-earned reputation for hosting major sporting events and I am sure our hosting of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup, the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will only enhance that reputation. We have proudly hosted two Olympic Games, one Paralympic Games and four Commonwealth Games. We have also hosted the Rugby League World Cup four times, the Rugby World Cup twice and the Cricket World Cup once. We have an excellent reputation for hosting the very big sporting events. Who can forget the words of the then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when he said:

I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever.

My own electorate of Newcastle has also proudly hosted major sporting events in the past and is very keen to host a number of games in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in January next year. Newcastle will host two qualifying-round matches, a semi-final and the third/fourth play-off match of the Asian Cup with some of the most supportive and passionate sporting fans in the country filling our fantastic Hunter Stadium, which is now capable of hosting international events like these—thanks to $10 million of funding from the former Labor government, I might add.

Novocastrians will warmly welcome the players and supporters of Japan, Oman, Kuwait and other nations as they make their way to Newcastle. It is no surprise that Newcastle was selected to host these fixtures as our sporting tradition and history of hosting successful large sporting events is as strong as the broader nation's.

We are proudly home to some of Australia's greatest sporting legends: the internationally renowned surfer Mark Richards; wheelchair athletes Kurt Fearnley and Christie Dawes; rugby league immortal Andrew Johns; and Liverpool Football Club's Craig Johnston to name just a few. We are also home to some of our next generation of sporting champions like Australian Junior Futsal representative Riley Parker, who is set to play on the international stage in coming months. I wish him and his Australian team well and look forward to following their matches abroad.

As previously mentioned, Newcastle's history of hosting successful major sporting events is rock solid. Most recently, in December last year, Newcastle hosted the Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games. This was the first time this event had been held in Australia and Newcastle excelled itself. Some 2,000 competitors from 30 nations, as well as 600 officials and coaches, called Newcastle home for a week of competition. The game's opening ceremony was attended by almost 15,000 people and the week-long competition was supported by more than 5,000 local volunteers, all of whom ensured the smooth running of the games. Everyone was made welcome in Newcastle and the capacity of sport to bring people together in the spirit of goodwill and healthy competition was demonstrated for all to see.

Newcastle has also successfully hosted the Australian Transplant Games, the Australian University Games, the Indigenous Rugby League Festival, rugby league and union international test matches and a visit from a major international soccer team, the LA Galaxy, in recent times. The success of each of these events is built from government and corporate sector funding and support. These events could not happen without funding and support from commercial partners, so it is right that these partners are protected from ambush marketers and counterfeiters. The protections offered through this bill not only support the commercial funding for the events but also help to build their lasting legacy.

Our memories of the Sydney Olympic Games are entrenched with the outstanding performances of athletes like Cathy Freeman, Susie O'Neill, Michael Diamond, Ian Thorpe and my Labor colleague Senator Nova Peris. But the games are also remembered, by children in particular, for Syd the platypus, Millie the echidna and Olly the kookaburra. Without the protections that were legislated for the games, we might have had all sorts of counterfeit and copy mascots being sold through association with the games, diluting our memories and putting at risk future commercial investment in major sporting events.

Labor supports the sensible protections in the bill provided by the commercial benefit test that applies to the use of material. Restrictions will apply to unlicensed commercial use of the protected indicia and images. The aim of this test is to prevent an unauthorised user from applying the protected indicia and images to suggest a formal association with the events. Labor also supports the exceptions in the bill that will, for example, recognise existing commercial arrangements, allow the use of indicia and images for the purpose of criticism and review, and allow an athlete to make factual statements about their own achievements.

As touched on earlier, major sporting events also rely on significant government funding and support to take place. It is not just funding for specific events, it is grassroots funding for young athletes, coaching programs and elite athlete pathways. It is government funding for stadiums, venues and governing bodies. Labor has a proud history of supporting sport through various funding arrangements and other mechanisms. Federal Labor supported the redevelopment of Hunter Stadium with a $10 million investment. Without that investment, coupled with the strategic investments of the then NSW Labor government, Newcastle would not be able to host events like the AFC Asian Cup.

While you could argue until you are blue in the face about where and how governments should fund sport, it is vital that sport is supported by government in a coordinated fashion. Last night's budget cut nearly $23 million from the Australian Sports Commission, which will no doubt have an impact on the programs they offer. The Sports Commission, established under the Hawke Labor government in 1985, is recognised as a world leader in the development of high-performance sport and sports participation. Their services are broad and include high-performance coaching, sport science, facility management, education and resource provision, as well as sports participation development and delivery of funding programs to national sporting organisations.

One of the most important community programs the Australian Sports Commission runs is the Active After-school Communities program, which provides primary school children with access to free sport and other structured physical activity programs in the after-school timeslot. I know this is a very well-loved and well-supported program in my community in Newcastle. The program has previously been provided with $39.4 million from the Labor government. It is a program that helps kids stay active, it comes at no direct cost to parents and it helps to support families that are now under siege from this government's budget.

Junior sport is not cheap at the participation or elite level and cuts to programs like the Active After-school Communities program could force children into a more sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle. A recent Newcastle Herald article said that the cost of junior sport in Newcastle for a 12-year-old is up to $800 every year. Riley Parker, the young Futsal player I mentioned earlier, competes at the elite level and is having to find nearly $3,500 to travel with the national team.

I would hope that all governments would see the value of supporting, rather than hindering, families with kids competing in junior sport. Families sacrifice a lot to enable their children to compete on the national and international stage. They deserve our support.

Last night's cuts come on top of the reversal of more than $17 million in funding for the sporting communities initiative in the MYEFO, which was to support the upgrade of facilities at local sporting clubs. It was a program with a huge impact on local communities. Interestingly, one line item of sport funding for a facility upgrade that has not been scrapped is the $10 million dedicated for an upgrade to Brookvale Oval. Brookvale Oval is the home of the National Rugby League's Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, but it also just happens to be the Prime Minister's team and in his electorate.

Notwithstanding these cuts to sport, there is bipartisan support for this bill and a bipartisan recognition of the significance of major sporting events both socially and economically to the Australian people, so I commend this bill to the House.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill and to express my support for the work of the minister. The purpose of this bill is to protect major sporting event sponsorship and licensing revenues from being undermined by unauthorised commercial use of event images, signs and logos for the Asian Football Confederation's Asian Cup 2015, the International Cricket Council's Cricket World Cup 2015 and the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast—for which the Treasurer announced $156 million in federal funding in last night's budget.

This bill is consistent with the approach the Australian government took when through previous legislation to protect the Sydney Olympics Games in 2000 and 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. This unauthorised commercial use includes ambush marketing techniques, which we have seen at previous events on the world stage and which have been progressively banned, as a standard rule, from major events in Australia. Major sporting event imagery and branding provides a crucial source of commercial value which helps to offset the great costs of hosting such events. Too often the debate on event hosting focuses too greatly on these costs, and not on the many broader and long-term social, economic and civic benefits received by the host city, including huge boosts in infrastructure development and associated tourism.

Across the globe, our nation has a great reputation for hosting highly successful and well-organised major sporting events. This success is wholly dependent on state and federal governments playing a crucial role in preparing a strong regulatory environment. The three events that are the focus of this bill bring representatives from over 60 countries to Australia, together with thousands of fans, officials and international media. These events present a great opportunity to showcase our country from a tourism, trade and event delivery perspective. Television rights, ticket sales, sponsorship and licensing are crucial to ensure that the event can be delivered successfully, and these commercial realities necessitate the protections proposed in this bill.

Ambush marketing provides unscrupulous businesses with the opportunity to associate their branding with the event at a limited cost, thereby diminishing the value of official sponsorship and reducing the incentive for commercial organisations to support these events. This in turn threatens the future sustainability of the event and tarnishes the host nation's reputation as a commercial, sporting and tourist destination.

In balance, it is also important to take a pragmatic approach to protect the community's rights to freedom of expression. As a result, generic words like 'cricket', 'football' and 'Commonwealth' have been excluded from protection, and state, territory and local governments will still be permitted to utilise event images to promote the festival that surrounds the event. The bill also protects the rights of existing trademark holders to use associated branding to carry out their business functions and for sporting organisations to utilise a connection to the events for reasonable needs around fundraising and athlete preparation. The bill provides various remedies to the authorising bodies and authorised persons to enforce their rights. It will be the authorising body and the authorised person who may bring an action against an unauthorised user. This will not be the responsibility of the government. Each schedule of the bill will cease to have effect within one year after the completion of each major sporting event.

Our great sporting events are now broadcast to the world and when our athletes travel their feats are broadcast live into living rooms back home. Our sporting culture has largely developed around participation, possibly because during our early development more sophisticated entertainment or cultural pursuits were not so readily available. In searching for reasons that we are not the force we once were in some sports, it is often suggested that it is because our young people now have so many other interests. This has occurred alongside a sharp decline in access to those sports that once dominated our participation landscape and which, as a direct result, we once dominated on the world stage. There has been a cultural change but the legacy of our great sportsmen and women remains. This stretches from our greatest cricketers and football teams to our greatest women athletes who are so often referred to by their first names—our Dawn or our Evonne. This great legacy continues to grow and advertises to the world our values, our character and our culture. In turn, our great events must be protected.

Sport has become big business and now so much more so because of the opportunity that is created when our great events are combined with our greatest athletes to make Australia a sporting destination for world tourism. Opportunities exist to combine these dynamic components to leverage our events to drive sports tourism; to use our great sports men and women to attract a new generation of tourists. Sports tourism is estimated to be worth $600 billion per year globally. Sports tourists are considered high-yield tourists, with Tourism Research Australia estimating their value to the Australian economy at $232 per day. Sports tourism is a natural consequence of our history of participation and the legacy of our great champions, bringing together the values of our national character to flow into opportunities of great economic value to our community. In order to best harness these opportunities we need strong events and the continuation of our reputation as one of the world's best event-hosting nations. This bill forms an important part of this process. I congratulate the minister and commend the bill to the House.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to 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.