Australia’s march to an R18+ videogame rating has run into yet another delay thanks to state elections in New South Wales which have made it impossible for a vote on the issue to take place.
I don’t believe in fate, but sometimes I wonder. Like, for instance, when I look at Australia’s struggle to bring in an R18+ rating for videogames. It just makes sense, right? And yet at this point I’m beginning to wonder if even an act of God would be enough to make it happen.
It looked like progress might be made at the last meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General [SCAG], held in December 2010, but in spite of overwhelming public support for a mature videogame rating the AGs voted not to create the rating, but to begin drafting the preliminary guidelines under which it could be created. In other words, they dodged.
The deadline was set for the next SCAG meeting on March 4, at which time the wheels of progress would presumably turn a little further. But once again the process has been delayed, this time due to state elections in New South Wales which will keep Attorney General John Hatzistergos from attending. Any changes to Australia’s game rating system requires unanimous assent from all AGs and Hatzistergos’ absence means that won’t be possible.
Even if he did attend, it wouldn’t matter; because of the election, the New South Wales government will be in a “caretaker period,” which the NSW Premier’s office said means that “no significant new decisions or initiatives, appointments, or contractual undertakings” should be made.
So tough noogies, Australia, but keep your chin up. Someday, your time will come.
Source: GameSpot AU
