No plans for R18+ rating for games in Australia: Labor

Games classification--particularly the lack of an R18+ rating--has long been a hot topic for gamers in Australia. With a federal election just around the corner, some gamers had hopes that a possible change in government could also result in a change in ratings, but that now seems unlikely with the federal Labor Party stating it has no desire to introduce an R18+ rating should it come into power on November 24.

Labor Party shadow attorney general Joe Ludwig has told GameSpot AU that the Labor Party does not think there are any "fundamental problems" with Australia's current games classification regime. All of Australia's various state and territory attorneys general--as well as the federal attorney general--jointly make the decision on classification levels for different forms of media. This National Classification Code is what the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification then uses to make its decisions on ratings.

"While I understand that many in the community desire the addition of an R18+ rating for video games, the Federal Labor Party does not believe that there are any fundamental problems with the functioning of the Classification system in Australia and, as such, we do not currently have any proposals to work with state governments to introduce such additional ratings for video games," Ludwig said.

Attorney general Philip Ruddock did not return GameSpot AU's request for comment before deadline.

For more on the key issues facing Australian gamers in the upcoming federal election, check out GameSpot AU's I Game and I Vote feature.