Australia first gamer rights political party, formed to run against former South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, has opt to close down and will not contest the upcoming federal election.
Gamers 4 Croydon was formed in November 2009 with the aim of ousting Australia’s biggest obstacle to an R18+ classification for videogames. At the South Australian election on March 20, Atkinson won his seat with a drastically reduced vote and promptly resigned.
Gamers 4 Croydon founder David Doe said his party exceeded expectations.
“We put political pressure on and helped unseat an Attorney-General (who was oddly absent throughout the ALP’s 2010 campaign). We (along with others) helped raise public awareness of the classification debate by getting on mainstream radio and television and outlaying the facts as they are, rather than as they are perceived or often portrayed. And personally, I’d like to think that we brought something genuine to the political process and managed to engage a previously disengaged and largely overlooked segment of voters.”
But Doe believes the time has come to “pass the torch”:
“Having successfully been a part of removing one of the largest roadblocks to classification reform in this country, we feel that Gamers4Croydon has run its course as a party. As a result, we are in the process of de-registering the party. Once again, we’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the campaign.”
Doe also calls on Gamers 4 Croydon supporters, when thinking about who to vote for in the imminent federal election, to “look very closely” at the policies of the Australian Sex Party and the Greens. Both parties, Doe says, have many policies in common with G4C in terms of classification and the other environment issues that formed the basis of his party’s platform.
New Game + [Gamers 4 Croydon]
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