Australian R18+ rating unlikely – NSW will not vote

Just a few hours after the Australian gaming public was confused by the stance taken by the South Australian Attorney-General, they're now getting angry over his New South Wales counterpart's decision.

While the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General had planned on making a decision regarding the introduction of an R18+ rating for video games on Friday at a meeting in Adelaide, the NSW Attorney-General has announced he will not vote on the topic at this time.

In order to change the classification, all nine federal, state and territory censorship ministers must agree - even if all eight remaining vote for the change, one person holding back means the whole deal is postponed until at least the next SCAG meeting.

According to recent studies, two-thirds of the Australian states and territories are publicly in favour of the R18+ introduction (including the controversial South Australian vote) - while the remaining three (NSW, Victoria and Western Australia) announced they would hold off on making a decision until some time closer to the meeting.

Now, it seems that time has come, and while the Victorian and Western Australian ministers are keeping quiet, NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith has announced that he will not vote.

In a recent statement issued to GameSpot AU, a spokesperson for Smith explained:

We're not going down a definitive route.

More work needs to be done on this issue. We want to wait to see the results of the ALRC [Australian Law Reform Commission] classification review.

The ALRC review is currently underway, but no results are expected until early 2012 at the earliest. The review addresses video games, but also other classification-related issues, with an overhaul of the Australian national classification scheme predicted as a result.

Back in April, Home Affairs and Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor promised gamers a "hard stance" on the topic - so we'll see if he's able to convince NSW to join the majority - or if, as threatened, the Federal politicians will take things into their own hands and make the decision for the States.

GamePron will be at Friday's SCAG meeting in Adelaide, keeping you up to date with any news and information that may come from the event - even if that news is simply that we have to keep waiting.

7 Responses to “Australian R18+ rating unlikely – NSW will not vote”

1. Natalie says:

   July 18, 2011 at 1:24 am

   http://i.imgur.com/b1SfL.jpg

   Totally relevant

   Reply
2. Goat Farmer says:

   July 18, 2011 at 3:40 pm

   What an ass!

   Reply
3. Fuck Your R18+ Postulating Bullshit. | The Refined Geek says:

   July 18, 2011 at 7:02 pm

   [...] came the real rear-ender, the NSW attorney general Greg Smith announced that he’d be abstaining from voting (I hope he fired his photographer for the picture in that article) on the issue citing some [...]

   Reply
4. spunky says:

   July 18, 2011 at 7:49 pm

   Greg Smith, I am dissapoint.

   Sit on the fence more old man.

   Reply
5. Scott says:

   July 18, 2011 at 9:13 pm

   geez, It is time for the federal government to seize control from this bunch of incompetants. Yes the federal government are almost as incompetent but at least there is only one person that we need to get to say yes rather than the current lot that couldn’t organise a root in a brothel.

   Reply
6. Raziel says:

   July 19, 2011 at 6:05 am

   This really is way past the point of being ridiculous. I can’t believe how incompetent these guys are… The decision to bring in an 18+ rating is about 10 years overdue now. I think it’s time the federal government steps in and simply introduces the 18+ rating since it is clearly needed.

   Greg Smith should be ashamed of himself for dropping the ball on this one and letting the entire country down as a result. Australia is the laughing stock of the world and we have incompetent people like him to thank for it.

   Reply
7. Still no R18+ for Australia « GamePron says:

   July 21, 2011 at 6:44 pm

   [...] – to the introduction, while one – New South Wales Attorney-General Greg Smith – declined to vote, saying that he needed more information on the [...]

   Reply

Article Details

• published: July 18th, 2011
• by: Jessica Citizen
• in: Australia, Australian R18+ Debate, Greg Smith, MA15+, New South Wales, NSW, Politics, r18+
• comments: 7

Author Bio:

I like video games, fishing, Depeche Mode, long walks on the beach, writing discussion papers and cups of tea. Not necessarily in that order.

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