Editorial - R18+ Games: A Step in the Right Direction?

As some may have noticed this morning, SA Labor MP Michael Atkinson stepped down as the Attorney General of that state to serve on the back bench for the rest of his term following his win in the traditionally safe ALP Seat of Croydon, a suburb of Adelaide.

As expected, this was good news for Australian Gamers as Atkinson had been steadfast in his refusal to allow an R18+ Rating for Games, a move that annoyed many but one question still needs to be asked.

And that is that is it a step in the right direction for getting the rating introduced, in case you may not know, any changes to the Australian Classification System require unanimous agreement between all of the state and territory attorney-general's, Atkinson did not agree and as a result, an R rating was denied for Games, leaving some Games Refused Classification or RC to shorten the term.

While it is pleasing to see Atkinson gone, SA Premier Mike Rann has yet to name a successor and this could also be a road block for the plan as he or she could share the same view as Atkinson did and on top of that, there seems to be a change of government in Tasmania with again a new Attorney General who's views on this are unknown.

So while the push for an R18+ Rating for Games has gone in the right direction, Australians must not rest on their laurels now that Atkinson has stepped down, there have been whispers in the past that other Attorney-General's opposed the decision to bring in the rating and the two new A-G's must be contacted to get their views because if one of those others oppose it as Atkinson did, then all of the hard work may go to waste.

So in closing, Australian Gamers while they have the right to celebrate Atkinson's resignation, his replacement and the new Tasmanian Attorney-General must be contacted to be made aware of the overwhelming public demand for this rating or otherwise, we may be doing to dosie-do on this issue for a long time to come.