As we’ve spoken about extensively in our feature Classifying the Unclassifiable: R18+ And The Bigger Picture the government are currently taking submissions on the upcoming Classification Review – and the deadline is this Friday.
The Standing Committee of Attorneys-Generals were meant to meet this month to discuss, amongst other topics, the issue of video game classification in Australia. Thanks to the upcoming Federal Election, that meeting has been cancelled.
Gamepron reports that Mike Rann, who remains SA Premier after the recent election, has announced his new cabinet with John Rau in the position of Attorney-General. Michael Atkinson, long opposed to an R18+ rating for video games in Australia, decided to step down from the Attorney-General position after winning his election over the weekend, but will remain on the back bench until 2014. As for his stance on R18+…
South Australia’s ex Attorney-General (man, it feels good to say that) Michael Atkinson has won the recent election, before promptly stepping down from the front bench. He will stay in parliament until 2014, but has no more say over our classification scheme for video games.
With the next meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General just 41 days away, no one can obtain confirmation that the issue will even be discussed. But R18+ advocate Roland Kulen believes there are ways we can put pressure on the committee.
The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (iGEA) has announced that today it made its submission to the Attorney-General’s Department on the R18+ discussion. Along with some insightful statistics, they are again calling for the community to get submissions in before the deadline in two weeks time.
The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General recently announced that it would be asking the public for its opinion on an R18+ classification for video games. At the time this news came out, there was no word on how the SCAG would facilitate such a consultation.
That was then. Now, we have the notes from the March 28 meeting that includes all the details.
