The Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2014 prevents the unauthorised commercial use, often called 'ambush marketing', of protected major sporting events and images associated with those events. Previously, designating an event required a bill, which cost taxpayers' money to draft and process through the parliament. Under this bill before the Senate today, the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026, this is being changed to a simpler system. The minister will issue a legislative instrument, a regulation. That's it; that's all the bill does—it reduces red tape and cost. The instrument will still be disallowable. In the unlikely event that there's controversy around designating an event, the Senate can still debate the instrument and, if necessary, vote it down, as we would with a bill.

The act serves to protect the financial interests of events which cost millions to stage, without impacting the rights of Australians. To answer a constituent's question that came through my electorate office, a hotel can advertise 'watch the Olympics on our big screen', provided it's sourcing the feed from a broadcaster who's paid the rights. You can't claim to be a sponsor or make a video, printed media or signage which a reasonable person would assume meant you had paid to be a sponsor. That's fair enough.

One Nation supports this measure. If someone wants to risk hundreds of millions of dollars to stage a sporting event, some level of protection is necessary—or nobody will do it. These are major events: the FIFA football world cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023, the International Cricket Council's T20 men's world cup in 2022 and, of course, the Commonwealth and Olympic games. Sensible taxpayer funding for these events can be justified on the basis of the taxation return from those attending and the increased tourism revenue for years afterwards, and for the facilities built for the future. One Nation strongly supports children playing sport, and that means someone has to build the venues. It's these major events which do that, and this is why they need protection.

I'll discuss who else needs protection: girls and women, who are being told to play against biological males pretending to be women—fake women. I've chosen my words carefully. Some sports—mixed doubles in the tennis, for instance—allow men and women to compete against each other. That's not what I'm talking about. My concern goes to men pretending to be women and playing against women and girls. Whether the sport is a contact sport or a test of skill, such as weightlifting, makes no difference. It is wrong. It is totally wrong. It's dangerous. Girls and women are being harmed. They're losing their opportunity to win fair and square and losing to men who are not being fair. It's an attack on women's rights, and I personally do not understand the mental gymnastics needed for a feminist to support men beating—and I do mean beating—women or anyone else, for that matter, in a sporting contest. This tarnishes the event and future events and guts female competitors and possible future female competitors.

Let me make One Nation's policy very clear. If your major sporting event involved even one sport which allowed biological males to compete as fake females in our country, a One Nation minister for sport would not issue your event with protection under this act. To organisers who do not protect women and girls playing a sport: we will not protect you.

Thank you for all the contributions on the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026 from those other senators. The bill before us modernises Australia's framework for protecting the indicia and images associated with major sporting events. It addresses a clear limitation in the current act, which requires events to be listed in schedules and updated through primary legislation through the parliament. The bill replaces that approach with a flexible rules based framework, allowing events and their associated protections to be prescribed by a legislative instrument. The use of legislative rules is appropriate given the need for timely event-specific adjustments while remaining subject to parliamentary scrutiny under the Legislation Act 2003. This will enable protections to be applied for more efficiently, in a timely way, as Australia continues to host major international events. There are some really good ones coming up.

A key feature of the bill is the introduction of clear statutory requirements for declaring major sporting events. An event may only be prescribed where the minister is satisfied that it is of international significance and that it is consistent with the objects of the act. The protection period also cannot exceed a period which the minister reasonably considers necessary, having regard to the objects of the act. The minister may also consider factors such as attendance and the broader impact on the Australian international sporting relationships. These requirements ensure that protections are applied consistently and appropriately.

The bill also maintains a balanced approach. Protections apply only to unauthorised commercial use, and existing exemptions for legitimate activities such as reporting and commentary remain in place. Finally, the bill streamlines the act by removing outdated schedules, a requirement at the moment because we don't have the rules based system, and this establishes a framework that is fit for future events.

As I said, I won't take too much more of the Senate's time other than to say two things. First of all, as we head towards the green and gold runway of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we know that the world's spotlight will be on Australia to deliver world-class international sporting events. I really look forward to the Senate's support of this bill so that the Australian government can support those organisations who are delivering these events over the next couple of years and do that in a way that protects the images, the logos and all of the important mechanisms that this bill will achieve.

I also note the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills asked the minister to respond to questions about the need for a rules based system. In relation to that, I table the addendum to the explanatory memorandum relating to the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026. This addendum responds to the matters raised by the scrutiny of bills committee.

The question is that the second reading be agreed to.