Atkinson quits as SA attorney-general; wins Croydon election

Michael Atkinson--the man many Australian gamers see as the only stumbling block to the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games in the country--has retained his seat of Croydon in the South Australian state election. The incumbent Labor Government also seems likely to hold power.

Atkinson will retain the seat of Croydon comfortably, although the minister did see an 11 percent swing against him according to the ABC News Election Web site. As of press time, 65 percent of votes had been counted, with Atkinson scoring 8,525 votes after preferences compared to the Liberal candidate, Zack McLennan, on 4,719 votes.

Gamers4Croydon candidate Kat Nicholson had scored 504 votes, or roughly 3.6 percent of total votes in Croydon. Gamers4Croydon was founded to specifically take on Atkinson and oppose his anti-R18+ view.

Atkinson has been a vocal anti-game campaigner and has repeatedly stated his opposition to the introduction of an adult rating for games in Australia. For an R18+ rating to be introduced for games, all of Australia's state and federal attorneys-general must unanimously agree on its implementation.

UPDATE: Adelaide Advertiser Web site Adelaide Now is reporting that Atkinson has quit the front bench of the Labor Government, relinquishing his post as the state's attorney-general.

According to Adelaide Now, Atkinson is making way for fresh blood in the ministry, but will stay in Parliament until the next election in 2014.

GameSpot AU will have more on the South Australian election as news breaks. For more on video game classification in Australia, check out GameSpot AU's Aussie Games Classification FAQ feature.