Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026

Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (11:02): 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.