Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My advice is that gambling promotion is regulated by an entire suite of separate frameworks, depending on the content. Scheduling of gambling promotion is regulated by co-regulated codes of practice developed by industry in consultation with the Australian Communications and Media Authority. I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to the government amendments to be moved to the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021.

The purpose of the bill is to protect sponsorship and licensing revenue from the FIFA World Cup Australia New Zealand 2023—and I, like Senator Scarr and probably everyone else in this chamber, can't wait for that fabulous event to arrive on our shores—and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 from being undermined by ambush marketing. Ambush marketing is the unauthorised commercial use of event expressions and images. This will be achieved by including the FIFA Women's World Cup and the T20 World Cup as recognised major sporting events under this legislation.

The bill also removes the schedule relating to a historical sporting event that will no longer provide protections under the act, being the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. In addition, the bill makes a minor and technical amendment to the Sport Integrity Australia Act to correct an erroneous reference to an article of the World Anti-Doping Code. The code's article numbering changed due to revisions that commenced from 1 January 2021.

The bill is consistent with the approach that the Australian government took when it legislated to protect these images for the ICC T20 Women's Cricket World Cup 2020, the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, the AFC Asian Cup 2015 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. It also meets a commitment by the government to provide such intellectual property rights protection for both the FIFA Women's World Cup and the T20 World Cup.

The hosting of these two events 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 FIFA Women's World Cup will see 32 teams compete across Australia and New Zealand. It will be the first FIFA Women's World Cup to be held in the Asia-Pacific region and the first ever to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. The FIFA Women's World Cup teams will include many of the world's most talented female footballers and will showcase international football to diverse audiences in Australia and around the world. The FIFA Women's World Cup tournament is scheduled for July-August 2023, with five Australian cities to host match content.

The T20 World Cup will see 16 of the world's-best men's teams come to Australia to play T20 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 cricketers. The T20 World Cup tournament is scheduled for October-November 2022.

For the owners and organisers of these events, this international profile provides the opportunity to showcase the sports of football and cricket to existing and new audiences, to build a legacy and to attract commercial partners that will invest in the event and the sports of football and cricket in the future. Event owners and organisers rely heavily on the 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 the commercial realities that necessitate the sorts of protections for the FIFA Women's World Cup and T20 World Cup that are in the bill.

Major events have long been targets of those who would seek to create an impression of association with an event in order to achieve commercial gain without having purchased the rights and, therefore, invested in the sport to claim that association. This act is known as ambush marketing by association. It has the capacity to diminish the value of sponsorship, reduce the incentive 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 FIFA Women's World Cup and the T20 World Cup from ambush marketing and unlicensed commercial use in the lead-up to, during and in the immediate aftermath of each event. In addition to protecting specific event related terminology, the bill also provides protection to certain images that, in the circumstances of their presentation, suggest a connection with the FIFA Women's World Cup or the T20 World Cup. These images may be either visual or oral representations.

While it's important to protect tournament 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 FIFA Women's World Cup and T20 World Cup indicia and images will apply only to their unlicensed commercial use. A number of exceptions will exist in relation to the FIFA Women's World and the T20 World Cup, allowing for the continued operation of rights and liabilities under the Trade Marks Act 1995, the Design Act 2003 and the Copyright Act 1968; the provision of information, criticism and review of the FIFA Women's World Cup and the T20 World Cup, such as in newspapers, magazines and broadcasts; use of the protected indicia and images for the reasonable needs of sporting bodies in relation to fundraising and promotion; and engagement by communities and businesses in city dressing and festival promotions supporting these events in non-commercial ways.

In line with the Australian government's deregulation agenda, the bill is not intended to increase the burden on business or affect their everyday operations. The bill fully protects the rights of existing holders to use FIFA Women's World Cup and T20 World Cup images and indicia to carry out their business functions. The new protections will cease to have effect after 31 December 2024 for the FIFA Women's World Cup and after 13 November 2023 for the T20 World, approximately one year after the completion of each event. This is consistent with other major sporting events protected by the act.