R18 games and Australia's classification revolution

28.10.2011
"One of the issues that we posed is whether the classification scheme can continue to operate as it is with some incremental reforms or does it require fundamental change," Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission and chair of the National Classification Scheme Review Professor Terry Flew told the audience of 'The Politics of Play' at Macquarie University last night. "The very strong indication that we got was the need for fundamental change."

The Politics of Play -- hosted by the university's Interactive Media Institute (IMI) -- debated classification, with a particular focus on the issues surrounding the classification of video games.

Flew was joined by a range of academics and classification experts on the panel, which is part of the IMI's three day game conference, which continues today and Saturday.

Flew's comments came almost a month after the ALRC released its discussion paper that proposed just such a 'fundamental change' to Australia's classification review. The proposals in the discussion paper address whether the classification can in some cases place an onerous burden on media creators, issues of industry self-regulation and the disparity with which different entertainment mediums are treated under the current system.

The ALRC review is the first review of Australia's classification system undertaken in 20 years, Flew told the audience. The last review, also conducted by the ALRC, took place in 1991 and led to the Classification Act of 1995. Although the review is not limited to the classification of video games -- "I've learned a lot about pornography doing this inquiry," Flew noted -- the commissioner said that this issue stood out in submissions received by the ALRC.

"The ALRC prior to the classification review the largest number of submissions it had received in response to an inquiry was when it undertook an inquiry into privacy law in 2008," he said. "That received over 500 submissions what we were not prepared for was the number of submissions we would receive around the classification review."