ACT Senator drums up support for R18+ in parliament

While most Australian politicians have shown reluctance in the past over a definitive stance on R18+ for games, there are some who have embraced the plight of Aussie gamers wholeheartedly.

ACT Senator Kate Lundy delivered a speech to the Australian Senate this week advocating the introduction of an adult classification for video games in Australia. In her speech, Lundy outlined three reasons the country needs an adult rating for games: first is that games classification should be brought up to speed with other media and classified correctly in order to give adults and parents correct information about the content they are buying; second, so that Australia does not fall behind other Western nations that already have an adult classification for video games; and finally, because of the amount of support the Australian public has shown for R18+ for games.

In her speech, Lundy cited the Bond University research paper Interactive Australia 2009 (IA9), which found that 91 percent of Australians surveyed support the introduction of an R18+ rating for games. She also referred to the overwhelming response in support of R18+ in the government's national public consultation last December, in which 98 percent of submissions were pro-R18+.

At the end of her speech, Lundy presented to the Senate the results of an eight-week in-store petition by Aussie retailer GAME calling for the introduction of R18+ for games. The petition received 89,210 signatures, a number Lundy said proved it was one of the largest petitions submitted to the Australian Senate in the last 15 years.

GameSpot AU will be speaking to Senator Lundy in the next week, so stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, make sure to check out the Classification FAQ feature and our Silent Majority feature.