Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026
Mr GEORGANAS (Adelaide) (17:57): The major sporting events here in Australia are woven into the fabric of our Australian identity whether it be the AFL that we all love, tennis, cricket, the wonderful round ball football that we're watching Australia compete in or whether it be motor motorcycle events like the MotoGP, which is currently held in Melbourne but will be held in Adelaide in 2027.
It will be a magnificent event with it being the first time on a street circuit, so we're really looking forward to it. All these events inspire our nation and create lifelong memories. When we host these event, they showcase the very best of our Australian teams, our Australian participants, to the world.
Whether it's a packed stadium as a young child seeing their sporting heroes for the first time or communities proudly welcoming visitors from across the globe, these events have a legacy that extends far beyond the final whistle. Their significance extends far beyond sport itself. Major sporting events are about more than just the actual sport itself.
They are a very powerful driver of economic growth, tourism, employment and international engagement—soft diplomacy. They attract investment. They strengthen local businesses.
They showcase our cities and regions. They encourage participation in sport across every corner of our community. You only have to look at, for example, in South Australia the Gather Round and how the entire nation converges for one weekend on Adelaide and the excitement from the fans, the atmosphere in Adelaide at the restaurants and cafes.
Everywhere, there's excitement. They're wonderful events. I've seen it firsthand in South Australia.
I've seen in my own home state and in the city that I represent, Adelaide, the incredible impact that these events can have. I've seen the success, as I said, of the Gather Round, LIV Golf and the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. These are just some events that demonstrate what is possible when world-class sporting events are brought to local communities.
As I said, I'm looking forward to next year and the MotoGP, which will be in Adelaide for the first time. For the first time anywhere in the world it will be on a street track. All these events have generated enormous economic activity.
They've filled hotels, supported small businesses, attracted interstate and international visitors and showcased South Australia to audiences around the world. Beyond the economic benefits, they've created an atmosphere of excitement and national and civic pride. They bring communities together and inspire people.
Those events in Adelaide that I've seen firsthand have reinforced Adelaide's reputation as a destination capable of delivering major international events. These are the kinds of opportunities that major sporting events create. The opportunity before Australia over the coming decades is extraordinary.
We have the Rugby World Cup in 2027, and the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will place our nation firmly on the global stage. They'll attract millions of viewers, thousands of athletes and countless visitors from every corner of the world. These events represent an unparalleled opportunity to strengthen Australia's international reputation, generate economic activity, as I said, create jobs and inspire Australians to participate in their sports.
But hosting events of the scale and magnitude of the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup requires more than world-class venues and passionate supporters. Yes, the world-class venues help and the passionate supporters help, but it requires confidence. It requires confidence from the event owners, the investors and the sponsors and commercial partners, whose contributions are absolutely essential in delivering these events.
So a critical part of securing and successfully hosting these international sporting events is ensuring that our event owners and their partners can protect their intellectual property rights. Major events rely heavily on sponsorship and commercial investment. Businesses commit significant resources because they know their brands, trademarks and commercial partnerships will be respected and protected.
They need that security and that guarantee. If they're putting millions of dollars into a particular world-class event that's being held in Australia, they also want to know that their brands and products will be protected and that commercial partnerships will be absolutely guaranteed, respected and protected. Without those protections, the value of sponsorship diminishes and, when sponsorship is undermined, the ability to secure and successfully deliver these major sporting events or world events becomes more difficult.
That's why this legislation is so important. The bill before the House, the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026, modernises the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Act. It does so to ensure that it remains fit for purpose in a rapidly changing environment.
Rather than requiring governments to return to parliament and amend legislation every time Australia secures a major event, this bill establishes a modern, flexible, rules based framework that can be adopted to support future events. It's a practical reform but an important one. It reduces the unnecessary legislative duplication while providing certainty for event organisers, investors, sponsors and the broader sporting community.
Most importantly, it ensures that Australia can continue to meet its obligations when hosting significant international events. The bill will enable protections to be applied to events like the Rugby World Cup 2027, for example, and, of course, the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It also protects sponsors and commercial partners from ambush marketing, where organisations attempt to gain commercial benefit from an event without actually making those investments, whether they be in sponsorship, advertising et cetera.
We want to make sure that those people who do sponsor these major events, who give us the opportunity to host these events here in Australia, have absolute security and that their investment—their products and, commercially, their brands—are protected. Those who contribute to the success of major events deserve confidence that their investment cannot be undermined by those seeking to profit from an association that they have not earned by having supported, sponsored, put money in et cetera.
It's very important to protect the sponsors, as that then protects the integrity of the events themselves. At the same time, the legislation strikes an appropriate balance. It includes clear statutory criteria before protections can be declared.
It maintains parliamentary oversight. It contains safeguards to ensure legitimate activities and users remain protected. This is a sensible framework that promotes accountability, transparency and confidence, as I said earlier.
As Australia prepares to host some of the biggest events in the world, it's also important that we protect the Australian consumer. Major events generate excitement and enthusiasm, but, unfortunately, they can also attract misleading conduct and scams. We have seen many scams that revolved around sporting events in the past.
As an Aussie, you should be able to purchase your ticket to a world event being held here in Australia, your merchandise, your travel packages and your event experiences with confidence, knowing that the products you're receiving are exactly what you've paid for and that you're dealing with legitimate providers who are offering these products. This reform will also help prevent consumers from being misled by businesses falsely claiming an association with an event.
It'll help protect families from spending their hard-earned money on products or experiences that are not the genuine thing. It will ensure that the official partners whose investment makes these events possible receive the protection that they deserve, because, after all, they're the ones that have invested for us to be able to host whatever particular world event it is.
Ultimately, the bill reflects a broader vision of Australia as a confident host nation, a nation that welcomes the world, a nation that embraces opportunity and a nation that understands that major sporting events are about far more than just the competition. They're about community. They're about economic growth.
They're about participation. They are also about creating memories that last a lifetime and legacies that endure for generations. On that point, I'm thinking of the number of Australians who are over in the US, Canada and Mexico and the memories that will remain with them forever.
Imagine, if we were hosting the World Cup here, how wonderful and magnificent it would be for kids who see our Socceroos as their heroes. At the same time, we want to ensure that the merchandise that's being sold, the tickets that are being sold and the people associating themselves with a particular event like that are the genuine thing so that the experiences that we all get become the real thing as well.
Another great event that's going to be hosted in 2027, the Rugby World Cup—and, of course, the Brisbane 2032 Olympics—is an even greater opportunity for investment and for kids to see their heroes and to be able to participate. These events will remain with them forever and a day. It's also an opportunity to showcase Australia to the world, to inspire future generations and to strengthen our economy and our communities for years to come.
Major sporting events leave memories that last a lifetime. This legislation ensures that those memories are built on trust, integrity and fairness, protecting consumers, supporting those that invest and helping Australia continue to host the world's greatest sporting moments. The successes of events like, as I said, Gather Round in South Australia and LIV Golf have shown what happens when Australia gets it right.
We see in my electorate that, when these events are being held, the pubs are absolutely filled. At local restaurants, cafes and other businesses, there are jobs that are created, and communities come together in a celebration that extends far beyond the sporting arena. We see people inspired and local economies strengthened, and our cities are showcased to the world.
The Rugby World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games present an even greater opportunity. As I said, they're going to offer Australia the chance to welcome the world, to demonstrate our hospitality and sporting excellence and to leave a legacy that will be felt long after the medals and awards have been presented and the crowds have gone home. But the legacy depends on trust.
It depends on ensuring that those who invest have those rights that they have agreed to and that those people who are purchasing products know that they are genuine products. Trust from the sponsors and investors for their contributions will be protected with this bill, as will trust from everyday Australians that, when they attend, participate in or support these events, they'll be treated fairly and protected from misleading and deceptive conduct.
That is exactly what this legislation delivers. It strengthens the integrity of the events that we host, it protects the consumers, it supports the investment and it ensures that Australia remains one of the world's most attractive destinations for major international sporting events. We just have to get the Mondial World Cup here at some stage in the future, and I'm sure that will happen in the future—maybe not in my time, but it'll be wonderful to host the soccer World Cup, or football World Cup, here.
When the world turns its attention to Australia, we want it to see a nation that's confident, capable, innovative and ready to seize every opportunity. So the bill is about more than protecting logos and trademarks; it's about protecting Australia's reputation, safeguarding the economic benefits and ensuring that future generations inherit a legacy of opportunity, pride and success.
A nation that delivers sporting events with integrity, excellence and a vision for the future—that's what this bill is all about