You may have heard of Elizabeth Handsley, Professor of Law at Flinders University. She wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald claiming the pro-R18+ arguments didn’t stack up and, as the President of the Australian Council on Children and the Media, she spoke at December’s SCAG meeting against the introduction of an ault rating for games. Now, it appears, she is softening her stance.
As reported by the ABC, apparently Handsley is not against an R18+ rating, “As long as it’s a higher category, and as long as we’re not getting access in the community to even higher levels of violence than are currently available.”
It’s a pretty vague statement, but it is progress. Essentially all Handsley is supporting is an R18+ rating that doesn’t allow any more violent games to pass through classification, which amounts to an R18+ rating that is precisely the same as the MA15+ rating we currently have already – but it’s nice to see that she at least understands the benefits of an R18+ rating for games.
So not exactly the grand leap forward some are reporting, but a slight softening of a hardline stance at the very least.
Baby steps people. Baby steps.
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