South Australia goes in own direction on R18+

South Australian attorney-general Paul Rau has told Gamespot of his plans to introduce an R18+ rating in his state, should one become available.

Rau said: "I’m working on the basis that while the Federal Government sets the rules, it’s up to each individual state to police them,I cannot imagine it will be a problem for South Australia to fold the MA15+ rating into the R18+ rating, once Australia has one."

The support for an R18+ rating is welcome, however folding one rating into another as the solution would simply leave videogames devoid of an MA15+ rating instead of an R18+ one. They would remain with fewer options than film, and less choice for classification options.

Rau continued: "Right now what I am envisaging is a system where South Australia still receives games that have been rated MA15+, but we simply put an R18+ sticker on top."

The implications of states each making up their own mind becomes obvious quickly. Multiple MA15+ and R18+ ratings for different states on a single product would only further confuse consumers, and the physical labour involved in stickering hundreds of thousands of individual products leaves a lot of questions for policing structures.

The results of tomorrow’s Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting will determine whether a move like this could even become possible or not.

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