Bill Cleared by Coalition

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

According to Games On Net, the committee responsible for carrying out an inquiry into the R18+ Bill has just handed down their report. The highlight is the one recommendation that the House of Representatives pass the new rating.

The report goes further to explain that the reason the Coalition used to force the bill to an inquiry was invalid, because “extensive public consultation on the introduction of an R18+ category of computer games legally restricted to adults has been undertaken since 2009″

It closes by saying “The Committee is satisfied that the evidence demonstrates overwhelming support for an R18+ Restricted classification for computer games. The Committee further notes that the Bill’s aim is not controversial. Rather, it seeks to align the existing classification system for computer games with the system that applies to films.”

The Bill will be sent back to Parliament, ready to be debated again. With both Labor and the Coalition agreeing to the R18+ rating, hopefully it will get through quickly, in time for the January 2013 target set out by former Federal Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor.

Site Maintenance / An Apology

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Sometime in the last two weeks or so, R18+ Games Australia was hacked and a small script inserted at the bottom of the page which redirected users of this site to a Russian porn site. This hack only affected a small percentage of users on certain browsers, but nevertheless if you were affected by this I apologise. It has now been fixed and will not happen again.

With momentum so strong on the R18+ issue and us so close to achieving the changes we need to ensure a fairer, safer ratings system for all, it’s more important than ever that we stay on top of the news and keep the pressure on our local, state and federal members.

Thanks very much for your continued support, and a special thanks to Glenn Petrie for tirelessly updating the site and keeping you all informed about the latest on this issue. Thanks Glenn!

R18+ Bill Pushed to Inquiry

Friday, February 17th, 2012

According to Kotaku Australia, the Coalition has just asked the R18+ Bill to be sent for an inquiry. This comes from Ed Husic, the Federal Member for Chifley. As part of that inquiry, the bill must be further examined by a Standing Committee before it gets cleared.

Husic has criticized the Coalition’s move.

“I’m just flabbergasted that after 10 years this has been pushed to an inquiry. Everyone is in support, people have basically spoken. We’re ready to get this done. It only takes one person to do this and you lose time.”

He has suggested that the Coalition is attempting to delay the R18+ legislation or kill it off entirely. Husic isn’t sure which path the Coalition will take.

“The Coalition hasn’t indicated what they’ll do yet. But I’ve spoken to Independents, and tried to make it clear that this is an issue that’s been going on for years is confident that this inquiry will be finished quickly.”

Husic is confident that the inquiry will be over quickly. Then again, it can be a far lengthier process.

“First they have to call for public submissions — again. They may hold a public hearing based on the submission. Then they have to draft a report, the Committee has to agree to that report and then they submit it back to Parliament.”

And so the cycle repeats…

R18+ Legislation Cleared For Parliament

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Last Month, Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Jason Clare, promised to stick with Brendan O’Connor’s plans to introduce the R18+ games legislation this month. Clare is true to his word, with GameSpot reporting that the legislation has been officially cleared by the Labor Party, and is ready to be introduced into Parliament.

As stated on R18+ Games Australia earlier, in order for it to pass the Lower House, it must have the support of at least two crossbench MPs. The crosbench MPS consists of the four independents (Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter, Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie) as well as Greens MP Adam Bandt. All of them remain silent on the issue.

In order to pass through the Senate, the bill will require the support of either the Coalition or the Greens. Any amendments to the legislation will be sent back to Parliament for the cycle to repeat.