Right: Writer and radio, TV personality Helen Razer, says that "Australian legislators have long been eager to act on a hunch, prompted by suspicion, religion and junk psychology."
Background information
(The following information comes from a discussion paper put out by the Australian Government's Attorney General's Department on December 9, 2009. The full text of this paper can be found at http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/%283273BD3F76A7A5DEDAE36942A54D7D90%29~Discussion+Paper+-+computer+games+-+R+18plus+classification+category.pdf/$file/Discussion+Paper+-+computer+games+-+R+18plus+classification+category.pdf)In Australia, the availability of films, computer games and some publications is regulated by the National Classification Scheme (NCS). The NCS is a cooperative arrangement between the Commonwealth, States and Territories.
The existence of the NCS allows Australian consumers to make informed decisions. For example, when a person visits a store to purchase or rent a DVD, they are guided by the classification or 'rating' of the product. The rating lets the person make a decision on the suitability of that product for themselves or other viewers in their household.
The Australian Government has produced [a]... discussion paper to ask people in the broader community whether the categories of the NCS should apply to computer games in the same manner as it does for films.
Although the NCS allows for the sale of R18+ DVDs, it does not allow the sale of R18+ computer games anywhere in Australia.
Some people think that preventing the sale of R18+ computer games is a good policy because it prevents the lawful sale of what they consider to be offensive material. Others say it prevents adults enjoying the ability to purchase games that are available in other markets overseas.
Commonwealth LegislationThe Commonwealth Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 establishes which classifications should be applied to publications, films and computer games.
The table at right outlines the classifications the NCS applies to literature, films and video games.
The Classification Code
The Classification Code sets out the principles that the Classification Board must give effect to, as far as possible, in making classification decisions. The principles are:
a) adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want;
b) minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them;
c) everyone should be protected from exposure to unsolicited material that they find offensive;
d) the need to take account of community concerns about:
i) depictions that condone or incite violence, particularly sexual violence; and
ii) the portrayal of persons in a demeaning manner.
State and Territory Law
Each State and Territory and the Commonwealth appoint Ministers responsible for censorship, normally the Attorney General, or in the case of the Commonwealth, the Minister for Home Affairs.
At the present time, State and Territory classification law sets out the effects of classification decisions, by creating a range of offences. This includes prohibitions on selling unclassified or Refused Classification (RC) films and computer games and age-based restrictions on access to some content, such as the prohibition on selling an R 18+ film to a minor.
There are at present some differences in the availability of classified material. For example, X 18+ films can only be sold in the ACT and parts of the Northern Territory.
Publications classified Restricted Category 1 or 2 cannot be sold in Queensland.
A change to classification categories would require amendments to the Commonwealth Act, the Code and the Guidelines, as well as State and Territory enforcement legislation.
Under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Censorship and the Commonwealth Act, the
Code and Guidelines can only be amended with the agreement of all Censorship Ministers.
States and Territories enact their own laws and make their own decisions for the purposes of deciding which classification categories will be available in their State or Territory. Each jurisdiction makes its own decision about whether to permit the sale of each classification category and not all jurisdictions would necessarily make the same decision.