Image: Shaun Greiner/Flickr (Creative Commons)
The House of Representatives have passed the R18+ classification amendment for video games, meaning that the law reaches its final hurdle – passing the Senate. However, as seen by the support in the House, then it will most likely pass without any hitches.
All political parities – including the Coalition – voted in favour for the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Ammendment (R18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012 this evening, after the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs unanimously supported the bill. A Senate Committee is due to publish its report on Wednesday on whether it will also support the bill.
Currently, video game classification is limited to MA15+ – so anything above that automatically gets a “RC” rating, or Refused Classification. Any form of media, such as video games and DVDs, that receive that rating cannot be legally sold in Australia. Australia is the only country in the Western world that does not have an adults-only classification for video games, and the bill’s passage to law will rectify that.
If passed in the Senate, then Australians will have to wait until the start of 2013 for it to become active. It is unknown whether games previously banned will be released in Australia, such as Mortal Kombat and Syndicate – despite it already being passed.
The full bill can be found below.