At a public forum in the western Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill last night, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he would be “happy to look at” an R18+ rating for video games if he won the election. But he said he didn’t know there had even been a debate on the issue…
A Kotaku reader asked the Opposition Leader: “What are your views on the absence of an R18 rating for video games and do you have any policies relating to this?”
Mr Abbott’s reply:
If what happens with video games is not roughly analogous to what happens in other areas, that seems silly… Instinctively I’m with you, and it’s something I’d be happy to look at, if we are in Government… If you think there is a problem, I would be happy to look at it.
Strangely, Mr Abbott reportedly admitted to not knowing “there had been a debate on this issue”, despite publicly saying, at the Make It Count debate in June, that the current classification system was “broken”.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was also present at last night’s forum, had nothing to say on the matter.
[Kotaku]
matt
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:51 AMin fairness, the federal government really has nothing to do with it, which is why he mightn’t know.
and, ofcourse, that completely broken system where state AGs are deciding national issues is the biggest annoyance with the whole thing.
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:56 PMExactly… The Federal Government has no power in the area of Classification, therefore for TA to make such a statement it is rubbish.
Matt
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 5:12 PMAnd here i was thinking the federal governments didn’t decide water allocations… or health services…
The state governments have for a while been slowly passing some of their traditional responsibilities over to the federal government. Also federal governments are in a position to pressure action, rather than talk on some subjects.
So basically, whilst there’s not a lot of power in the federal government to change this now, that doesn’t mean it’ll always be the case. Furthermore the more pressure put on the state AG’s, the more likely they’ll instate a R18+ classification.
So good on Tony for adding pressure and i hope it makes federal labor wake up and decide to follow suit. It’s far to easy to say it’s not my problem these days…
Scott Purcell
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:02 PMif you actually watched his response he was complete out of touch with the issue and had no idea what was going on.
Scott Purcell
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:08 PMSMH “Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he’s “no Bill Gates” and he proved it again last night in a “town hall” session at Rooty Hill RSL, causing some online ridicule.
The man who wants to be Australia’s next prime minister had no idea there was a debate raging about creating an R18+ rating for video games and told the audience “for me broadband basically is about being able to send an email, receive an email”.”
Jon Underwood
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 2:14 PM“for me broadband basically is about being able to send an email, receive an email”
crikey.
how can anyone aspire to leading this country and claim economic credentials BUT think that this is what broadbrand represents for the future of oz?
luddite.
matt
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 4:46 PMwow! receive AND send email!? shit! better up the upload rate of the NBN to 1gbit too!!
not exactly hard to see why he doesn’t see value in the NBN is it…
CC
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:22 PMI think you’re being a bit harsh on TA here. Fair enough he isn’t that informed on the whole NBN or games classification issue, however it sounds like everyone is purely voting for one person rather than the party which they represent. Although I do believe TA should be more up to date on these types of issues, I’m quite positive there are other members of his party as well as a variety of advisers who are much more educated in the ways of the NBN and games classification who can address them properly. It’s not entirely on TA to go out, know exactly what needs to be done and get it done all by himself.
TOm
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:48 PMScott, unless you play some form of game you wouldn’t know about this issue. I play Left 4 Dead 2 which, by the way, was refused classification at first so Valve had to tone it down. My 50 year dad knows less about this then Tony Abbott. It is a generational thing.
LGB
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:52 PMDoesn’t surprise me most of the government bodies, federal or otherwise, are that out of touch they still think that video games are played only by children..
When in fact statistically the average age and one of the largest demographics is 20 to 45 years
I think someone on Abott’s team must have realised it.
Rob
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 1:07 PMIt doesn’t really matter if The Coalition decide to implement the new classification system.
As long as the Australian Christian Lobby continue to hold certain body parts of the South Australian government in their grubby hands, there is no way we’re getting this fixed.
OneTwo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 2:18 PMCome on Ms Gillard, you got absolutely “nothing to say on the matter”?
Please don’t make me vote for Coalition just because you don’t play video games yourself…
Mr. Sanchez
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 3:45 PMIsn’t the ‘Family First’ party going to give the Liberals preference?? Would they be happy with R18+ classification?? Highly unlikely!!
Tweak
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 3:54 PMYou can tell scotts a die hard labor man, wheres your media objectivity ? i dont support either party currently but not every man and his dog is tech savvy
But back on topic, The whole thing needs a review and a reform, and as Rob stated, till we get it out of the hands of some unappealing people in SA we wont be going anywhere.
The problem is alot of the current power generation is out of touch, and until more of the in touch generation get in we will be suffering, the downfall of a an aging population i guess.
Rahul Khanna
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:53 PMGillard had nothing to say because she was never asked. Basically the leaders each had allotted time in the RSL club to answer questions from the floor.
I was pretty impressed though that someone asked the question. Don’t get to excited though because his initial response was that “instinctively I’m against people being exposed to filth”. I would wager Abbott’s view of what constitutes “filth” might not be in alignment with what the wider community may feel. Still – the answer could have been a lot worse :)
Womp
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 9:47 PMBoth State and Federal Governments have powers of Censorship. The power is shared and overlaps because that is how it is written in the Constitution. Neither the States nor The Commonwealth have been trading powers of censorship as this would require a change of the Constitution, which hasn’t happened. What they have done is to collude as to the manner in which they exercise their respective powers so as to block any attempt to lessen censorship whilst denying any responsiblity for the censorship by feebly blaming the collusion they themselves engaged in.
The collusion that the AGs have engaged in is an insult to all Australians, everyone of the AGs is allowing the wishes of the people who voted for them, and who they are supposed to represent, to be superceded by the veto of an AG representing a different constituency. Any claim that it is to promote uniformity is easily proven as a lie, since the States will not allow X rated material despite the Commonwealth having such a Classification. Also the SA AG, the one who kept blocking an Adult games Classification, cares so little about uniformity that his Department has the power to, and often does, reclassify Federally R rated material so that it can not be seen in South Australia.