MAJOR EVENTS BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:43): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to facilitate the holding and conduct of major events in South Australia; and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:44): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Major events are a significant contributor to the state's economy in terms of bringing both business investment and visitors to South Australia. That expenditure is worth many hundreds of millions of dollars to the state and is spread across events as diverse as the Tour Down Under, Clipsal 500, the arts festivals, the Christmas Pageant and so on.

It is through encouraging the private sector to invest in and sponsor major events that these events are able to be invited, established, flourish and grow. Without private sector involvement, many events would not survive or would only exist in a much diminished form. Major events bring life and vibrancy to the city, encouraging community engagement and participation, and provide opportunities for South Australia to showcase a broader range of its assets to the rest of Australia and the world.

For the private sector to invest in a major event, the private sector has the right to expect that the integrity of its commercial investment will be protected and the management of the event such that the efficient and smooth running of the event is ensured. The existence of legislation to facilitate major events and aspects of their operation may be a significant or determining factor in whether the private sector will bring a major event to South Australia.

Increasingly, it is a requirement of international bodies, such as the International Cricket Council, the Commonwealth Games Association, the International Rugby Board, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, that potential host cities provide protection against the infringement of certain activities associated with the event. It is a requirement of South Australia's 2015 World Cricket Cup bid that the protection that would be afforded by this proposed legislation be in place at least 12 months prior to the event.

South Australia is one of the few mainland jurisdictions not to have some form of dedicated major event legislation regulating commercial activities, such as ambush marketing, ticket scalping, the sale and distribution of prescribed articles and the protection of broadcasting rights and other activities, including entry to and exit from venues, possession of flares and explosive devices, obstruction or interference at major events, and entering restricted areas at major events venues. I seek leave to have the remainder of the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The legislation of other jurisdictions is:

the Major Events Act 2009 (NSW);

the Major Sporting Events Act 2009 (Vic);

the Major Sports Facilities Act 2001 (Qld);

the Major Events (Aerial Advertising) Act 2009 (WA).

South Australia has a significant annual major events calendar in a growing competitive commercial environment. Given the appeal of these major events to the general public and the significant commercial benefits that can be derived from these events, it is necessary for us to enact specific legislation to attract, retain and facilitate major events. South Australian major events rely on both Government and commercial sponsorship. Without corporate sponsors it would be impossible to run major events, such as the Clipsal 500, the Santos Tour Down Under and the Adelaide Fringe. The introduction of major event legislation would provide a vehicle for event organisers to protect sponsorship arrangements and the future of the events.

The commercial issues commonly raised by commercial interests involved in staging major events everywhere include: ambush marketing, ticket scalping, unauthorised event association and unauthorised broadcasting. The behavioural issues include offensive and/or disruptive behaviour. A recent example of ambush marketing in this State involved a bank distributing promotional items at a stage start of the Santos Tour Down Under, despite the fact that another financial institution was a premier sponsor of the event. The premier sponsor had contributed a significant amount to the running of the event and sought advice on what the event organiser (the State Government) was doing to protect the financial institution's investment.

Currently, there is no specific legislation in place that would provide a mechanism to allow the State Government to declare an event a major event and thereby enhance the ability to regulate conduct at such events. There are public and commercial transparency benefits in listing and adding to the range of public conduct offences in the context of the staging of a major event. The Bill is designed to facilitate the holding and conduct of major events in South Australia; regulate and/or prohibit the conduct of specific commercial and non-commercial activities at major events; and regulate the behaviour of attendees at major events. The Bill gives the Government the ability to declare any event a 'major event' and, in making such a declaration, protect the integrity of the event and the safety and wellbeing of event attendees.

The Bill deals with:

The regulation of certain commercial activities, including the sale and distribution of prescribed articles, ticket scalping and ambush marketing. For example, sponsors often invest large sums of money to support an event and have their brand associated with an event. Their money ensures that Government investment in an event is minimised. If a rival attempts to ambush the event by imposing their branding in and around the event, the official sponsor will lose some of the value of its sponsorship and be less inclined to invest in the future. This may take the form of marketing non-official merchandise through to a rival cola brand taking up key spaces in and around an event in an attempt to undermine another cola brand.

Ticket scalping is a contentious issue, which is the subject of divergent opinions, often strongly held. The Bill adopts a compromise position. The prohibition now applies to (a) the unauthorised hawking of tickets inside the declared area(s) for the major event and (b) any unauthorised sale for more than 10 per cent of the face price outside of that area or those areas. This latter part of the prohibition is taken from the Xenophon Private Member's Summary Offences (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2006.

The regulation of broadcasting, including unauthorised broadcasting. Like sponsors, broadcasters often invest large sums in winning the contract for the exclusive right to broadcast an event and the value of that will be diminished if other broadcasters attempt to broadcast all or part of an event. Once again, a broadcaster is unlikely to invest those sums in future if the value of its investment is not protected. For example if Channel X is the official broadcaster of the Santos Tour Down Under and Channel Y takes up a position on the course to provide some coverage, the value of Channel X's investment will be devalued.

The control of airspace and, in particular, prohibition of certain aerial advertising.

The use of official logos and official titles. For example, many events develop specific logos and branding to denote that merchandise being sold is officially endorsed by the event and the product will be of a certain quality. An opportunist merchandiser might apply the logo to their products and attempt to sell and distribute, eating into the sales of the endorsed products and reducing the official event profits and value of the investment.

The regulation of other activities at major events, including entry to and exit from major event venues, possession of flares and explosive devices, obstruction or interference at major events and entering restricted areas at major event venues.

The benefits of the Bill include:

protecting the State's investment in major events;

ensuring South Australia can host matches as part of the 2015 Cricket World Cup;

providing the best possible environment within which South Australia can attract new major events and grow existing major events;

protecting the safety and enjoyment of patrons to major events;

protecting the commercial interests of those who have invested in major events;

providing appropriate powers to the police, event organisers and authorised persons to ensure the safety and enjoyment of patrons;

providing penalties to ensure that unauthorised people and companies do not profit unfairly from major events.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

3—Objects

This clause sets out the objects of this measure, being—

to attract, support and facilitate the holding and conduct of major events in the State, in particular, events that are anticipated to be of a large scale with a significant number of participants or spectators (whether of a sporting, cultural or other nature);

to increase the benefits flowing from major events to the people of the State;

to promote the safety and enjoyment of participants and spectators at major events;

to prevent unauthorised commercial exploitation of major events, including ambush marketing, at the expense of event organisers and sponsors.

4—Interpretation

This clause contains definitions of words and phrases for the purposes of this measure.

5—Meaning of major event venue

A major event venue is defined as—

any of the following that has been declared to be a major event venue by the regulations:

a venue or facility used for the conduct of a major event;

a media centre or other communications facility for the media for a major event;

physical infrastructure associated with a major event; and

a public place, or any part of a public place, that is within 50 metres of a major event venue, being a public place, or part of a public place, specified in the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; and

any other place prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition,

but is only such a venue during the relevant major event period.

6—Meaning of ambush marketing

For the purposes of this measure, the following marketing activities constitute ambush marketing:

taking advantage of the holding and conduct of a major event to promote a person, goods or services without the approval of the event organiser; and

any other activity that would suggest to a reasonable person that a person, goods or services have a sponsorship, approval or affiliation that they do not have with—

a major event; or

the event organiser of a major event; or

any event or activity associated with a major event.

Part 2—Regulations declaring major events

7—Regulations relating to major events

This clause makes provision for regulations to be made for the purposes of this measure. Without limiting the generality of the provision, the regulations may—

declare an event to be a major event; and

specify the major event period for the event; and

declare a major event venue for the purposes of the event; and

designate a person as the event organiser for the event; and

require the event organiser to prepare a major event plan in connection with the event; and

provide for the admission, exclusion or expulsion of members of the public to or from the major event venue or a part of the major event venue; and

prohibit disorderly or offensive behaviour at the major event venue; and

prohibit or regulate eating, drinking (including liquor), smoking or the consumption of unlawful substances at the major event venue or a part of the major event venue; and

prohibit or regulate any other conduct or activities for the purposes of maintaining good order, and preventing interference with events or activities conducted, at the major event venue; and

close specified roads to traffic for a specified period—

for the purposes of the event; and

for the purposes of maintaining good order, or preventing interference with events or activities conducted, at the major event venue; and

prohibit or regulate the driving, parking or standing of vehicles at the major event venue; and

fix fees; and

prescribe penalties not exceeding $1,250 for breach of any regulation.

In addition, regulations declaring an event to be a major event may—

declare that Part 3, or a provision of Part 3, applies to any (or all) of the following:

the event;

the major event venue declared for the event;

a specified controlled area declared for the event; and

declare an area shown on a map in the regulations to be a controlled area for the event; and

declare an article of a prescribed class to be a prescribed article in relation to the event; and

declare a prescribed period to be a sales control period in relation to the event; and

declare airspace that is within unaided sight of a major event venue for the event to be advertising controlled airspace for the period prescribed by the regulations.

Part 3—Commercial activities, broadcasting and airspace controls

Division 1—Regulation of certain commercial activities

8—Sale and distribution of prescribed articles

This clause prohibits a person, without the written approval of the event organiser for a major event, from selling or distributing a prescribed article in a controlled area during the sales control period for the event. The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $25,000 (for a body corporate) or $5,000 (for a natural person). The clause also provides for authorised persons to give directions to persons who sell or distribute prescribed articles without such approval to remove those articles as directed. A refusal or non-compliance may constitute an offence and may result in the offending articles being seized.

9—Ticket scalping

This clause prohibits a person, without the written approval of the event organiser for a major event to which this clause is declared to apply, from selling or offering for sale a ticket for admission to the event in a controlled area for the event. In relation to a place that is not in a controlled area for the event, a ticket must not be sold or offered for sale at a price that exceeds the original ticket price by more than 10% without the written approval of the event organiser. The penalty for these offences is a fine of $25,000 (for a body corporate) or $5,000 (for a natural person).

10—Ambush marketing

This clause prohibits a person, without the written approval of the event organiser for a major event to which this clause is declared to apply, from participating in ambush marketing. Ambush marketing is defined as a marketing activity that is not part of the official sponsorship for the major event that takes advantage of the holding and conduct of the event to promote a person, product or service. The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $250,000 (for a body corporate) or $50,000 (for a natural person).

Division 2—Regulation of broadcasting

11—Unauthorised broadcasting

This clause provides that a person must not, without the written approval of the event organiser for a major event to which this provision is declared to apply—

broadcast, telecast or transmit by any means whatsoever any sound or moving image of the event or any part of the event at or from a place within or outside the event venue; or

make any sound recording or any visual record of moving images of the event or any part of the event for profit or gain, or for a purpose that includes profit or gain, at or from a place within or outside the event venue.

The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $25,000 (for a body corporate) or $5,000 (for a natural person). This clause does not apply to the use of a personal mobile electronic device to transmit or record any sound or image within limits of what would be generally accepted in the community as normal incidents of social interaction.

Division 3—Control of airspace

12—Control of airspace

This clause provides that a person must not, during a major event to which this provision is declared to apply and in the course of State air navigation, cause an aircraft to enter, or operate an aircraft within, controlled airspace or a restricted area that is over a major event venue unless permitted to do so by or under relevant Commonwealth law (including permission by or under an instrument given under such a law). The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $500,000 (for a body corporate) or $100,000 (for a natural person). State air navigation is defined as air navigation within South Australia to and in relation to which the Air Navigation Regulations 1947 of the Commonwealth are applied as if they were State law by section 5 of the Air Navigation Act 1937. This clause does not apply to the operation of military aircraft, or a South Australia Police aircraft, when being operated for military, security or emergency purposes or to an aircraft when being operated exclusively for emergency purposes.

13—Prohibition of certain aerial advertising

This clause prohibits a person from displaying an advertisement, or causing an advertisement to be displayed, in advertising controlled airspace during the prescribed period, except with the written approval of the event organiser for the major event concerned. The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $500,000 (for a body corporate) or $100,000 (for a natural person).

Division 4—Use of official logos and official titles

14—Minister may declare official logo or official title

This clause makes provision for the Minister to declare official logos and official titles in respect of a major event to which this Division is declared to apply.

15—Event organiser may authorise use of official logo or official title

This clause provides that, for the purposes of this Division, the event organiser of a major event to which this Division is declared to apply may, by notice in writing, authorise a person to use an official logo or official title in respect of that event.

16—Minister may authorise non-commercial use of official logo or official title

This clause provides that the Minister may, after consulting with the event organiser for a major event to which this Division applies, by notice in writing, authorise a person to use for non-commercial use an official logo or official title in respect of the event.

17—Contents of authorisation

This clause provides that an authorisation under clause 15 or 16 is subject to any terms or conditions reasonably imposed on the authorisation; and any such authorisation will expire at the earlier of the specified expiry date or, if no date is specified, 12 months after the end of the major event to which the authorisation relates.

18—Register of authorisations

This clause requires an event organiser of a major event to which this Division applies to maintain a register of authorisations given under this Division. The clause specifies the information to be recorded in the register.

19—Use of official logos and official titles that does not require authorisation

This clause makes provision for the use of official logos and official titles without the authorisation of the event organiser of a major event to which this Division applies as follows:

the event organiser;

a person who has been authorised in writing by the Minister to use official logos or official titles under this Division.

The clause also allows the use by others without authorisation in certain other circumstances.

20—Offence to use without authorisation official logos or official titles

This clause makes it an offence for a person to use—

official logos or official titles in relation to a major event to which this Division applies; or

any thing that is substantially identical to or deceptively similar to official logos or official titles in relation to an event to which this Division applies,

if the use is for commercial purposes, for promotional, advertising or marketing purposes, or would suggest a sponsor-like arrangement to a reasonable person. The penalty for such an offence is a fine of $250,000 (for a body corporate) or $50,000 (for a natural person).

This clause does not apply to any authorised or lawful use of official logos or official titles.

Part 4—Miscellaneous

21—Entry to and exit from major event venue

This clause provides that a person must not enter a major event venue unless the person pays the entrance fee (if any) or has the consent of the occupier of the venue or the event organiser to enter. If the occupier of a major event venue designates points of entrance to and exit from the venue, a person must not, without reasonable excuse, enter or leave the venue other than through such a designated point. The penalty for an offence under this clause is a fine of $750 which may be expiated on payment of an expiation fee of $105.

22—Possession of flares and explosive devices at major event venue

This clause provides that a person must not, while in a major event venue, carry or be in possession of a flare or a firework or other explosive device unless authorised by the occupier of the venue or the event organiser. The maximum penalty for such an offence is a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for 1 year.

23—Obstruction or interference at major event

This clause provides that a person must not, while in a major event venue, obstruct or interfere with the conduct of the major event or the reasonable enjoyment of the major event by a member of the public present at the major event venue. The maximum penalty for such an offence is a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for 1 year.

24—Entering restricted areas at major event venue

This clause provides that a person must not enter into or onto—

an area within a major event venue while the major event is occurring or on a day scheduled for its occurrence unless the person—

is officially involved in the event or in the preparation for the event; or

has the consent of the occupier of the venue or the event organiser to enter the area; or

any other area within a major event venue to which access is restricted by the occupier of the venue or the event organiser unless the person has the consent of the occupier of the venue or the event organiser.

The penalty for an offence under this clause is a fine of $750 which may be expiated on payment of an expiation fee of $105.

25—Power to remove persons from major event venue

This clause provides the police with power to remove persons from major event venues if they are behaving in a disorderly or offensive manner or are suspected, on reasonable grounds, of having committed an offence at the venue.

26—Powers of authorised persons at major event venues

This clause provides authorised persons with powers relating to good order and conduct at major event venues.

27—Forfeiture etc of seized items and goods

This clause sets out the procedure relating to the forfeiture of any items or goods seized under this measure.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.F. Evans.