The quota for “weird shit involving video games and federal Parliament” is a bit down for the year, but don’t worry, because the Senate has stepped up with a random aside about Pikachu, Charizard and Jigglypuff.
Niantic’s money-printing simulator was brought up in the upper house chamber this afternoon as part of a debate on new agricultural protection legislation, which has since been dubbed the “vegan terrorist” bill because that’s the standard of discourse these days.
After a bit of back and forth between the two major parties, who ended up supporting it all in the end, we got this bizarre exchange from Greens Senator Nick McKim who asked whether the legislation would result in the Pokemon Go creators Niantic, and developers of other AR-based location games being more vulnerable for the acts of their users.
The Guardian clipped the exchange, which went absolutely nowhere except to introduce Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Charizard into the Federal Hansard.
Nick McKim questions whether the creators of Pokémon Go could be liable under the ‘vegan terrorists’ bill as it might incite people to trespass onto agricultural land. Bridget McKenzie responds: “chasers of Pikachu are safe”. pic.twitter.com/1fkeEKuj49
— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) September 12, 2019
A+ everyone. Great day’s work.
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