Only one of Australia’s three major political parties supports the introduction of an R18+ rating for video games. The other two? They’d like a bit more time to think about it, thanks.
With the Federal Election just a fortnight away, Gamespot quizzed the Labor Party, the Liberal/National Coalition and the Australian Greens on a range of topics close to the heart of gamers around the country.
When it came to reforming our classification system, only the Greens declared unequivocal support for the introduction of an R18+ rating for games.
“It is bizarre that Australia is one of the only countries in the Western world without an adult classification for games,” says Scott Ludlam, Greens Senator for Western Australia. “We believe that a change to the classification system should occur in the next term in parliament.”
“The Greens will continue to support a campaign for R18+ for games. We also believe that the games industry and gamers have done a really good job of highlighting the issue and putting it on political agenda. We’re going to play our part in parliament and the community to make sure people know about the issue. We plan to raise this issue during our upcoming federal election campaign and make sure it is part of the debate.”
Both the Labor and Liberal spokespersons acknowledged the submissions received earlier this year during the period of public consultation on the issue, but declined to confirm their stance. Instead, both parties called for yet more consultation on the issue.
You can read the three parties’ views on classification, broadband, ‘net filtering and local development investment at the link below.
Does the Greens’ support for an R18+ affect the way you’re planning to vote at the election?
I Game and I Vote [Gamespot]
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