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Why Robin Makes Batman Better As Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor was more influential than any other Australian when it came to revamping games classification. Today, in a cabinet reshuffle Julia Gillard announced that O’Connor has been removed from his role, and has been replaced by Jason Clare, the previous Minister for Defence Materiel. Robert McLelland has also been removed as Attorney General and replaced by Nicola Roxon, Australia’s first female Attorney-General.
Speaking at the Game-Tech conference today in Sydney, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor briefly discussed the ongoing Classification Review and provided an insight into the Gillard Government’s intentions with regards to the future of classification in Australia. The overarching point? Classification must be “clear, simple and consistent”.
Despite the fact that the public have been consulted extensively, Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark has claimed that the new guidelines currently being prepared for a possible R18+ rating require “careful scrutiny and public debate” before any decision is made. And, in a statement that sends alarm bells ringing, he stated he was worried about the possibility of increasingly violent video games being made available in the country.
We’ve just received word that the Classification Review, to be undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission – announced back in December by Robert McLelland and the Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor – is now under way, and will evaluate the classification laws with a means to updating them to suit the current digital media landscape.
Over 40 guest speakers, including Brendan O’Connor and Michael Ephraim from Sony have been confirmed to speak at Gametech, Australia’s first major business forum for the video games and interactive entertainment industry, which takes place at Luna Park on the 21st and 22nd of June.
Earlier we posted a story discussing Brendan O’Connor and his stance on the R18+ issue, we’ve just received an entire transcript of the source interview by the ABC, where he states, among other things, that he “seeking advice” on “other avenues”, in case the upcoming SCAG meeting in July doesn’t go as planned.
Speaking to Ben Grubb over at the Sydney Morning Herald, Brendan O’Connor discussed classification, more specifically the classification of mobile apps on the App Store.
