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Post by Dan @ 06:13pm 03/12/12 | 9 Comments
While the ACT, South Australian and New South Wales have already passed legislation paving the way for lawful sale of R18+ rated video games once new federal classifications come into effect on January 1st 2013, the Queensland State government has confirmed that the process won't be moving forward in the Sunshine State until at least February, due to the committee review process (via GameSpot):
Instead, the Queensland Government will await the result of a Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee report--due to be released on February 7, 2013--before debating the R18+ legislation in parliament and officially amending the state's law to include an R18+ classification for video games. (The R18+ legislation was introduced in the Queensland Parliament on October 31, but was referred to the committee.)

According to a spokesperson for the Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, all Bills introduced in the state's parliament undergo this process.

"All Bills introduced to the Queensland Parliament, with the exception of Bills that are considered urgent, are referred to a committee to ensure the appropriate consultation can occur," the spokesperson told GameSpot Australia.
According to the QLD Attorney-General's office, "This means R18+ computer games cannot be publicly demonstrated, made, or sold until the law is amended in Queensland.".

There's still a chance that the delay won't have much impact on Queensland gamers, as most games released in the early months of the year will likely have been submitted to classification while the old system is still in affect, leaving a month or two for the Queensland Government to sort itself out.

However, as the federal legislation was passed back in June, one does have to wonder why yet another review of such well-worn subject matter should still be lingering eight months later, particularly by a state government recently elected on a platform of stopping waste.



r18+r18classificationaustraliaqueensland





Latest Comments
Dazhel
Posted 07:19pm 03/12/12
Nice. So all those public servants that got the sack a few months back get an extra kick in the nads to know that members of some rubber stamp committee made the cut ahead of them.
TufNuT
Posted 07:31pm 03/12/12
"All Bills introduced to the Queensland Parliament, with the exception of Bills that are considered urgent, are referred to a committee to ensure the appropriate consultation can occur," the spokesperson told GameSpot Australia.


F*#k this makes me so angry.. when it comes to churches or anything the cant do numan wants, there is no consoltaion.. not they want consoltaion? f**king neanderthals

last edited by TufNuT at 19:31:22 03/Dec/12
Ozzy
Posted 07:41pm 03/12/12
Sweet I get to pick up some herbs and my games from Northern NSW.

So what do they hope to gain by reviewing it again?
thermite
Posted 08:09pm 03/12/12
Most of the laws I've heard Newman making don't seem to go through any such process
euphoria
Posted 08:19pm 03/12/12
Read this a few days ago: Queensland Set To Miss R18+ Deadline

Interesting bit:
Since Australia has previously had no R18+ rating for video games there is absolutely nothing in current legislation that prohibits the sale of R18+ games. Retailers are forbidden from selling ‘unclassified’ video games but, in this case, the games will be classified — they’ll be classified under an R18+ rating that simply isn’t referenced in any legislation. This means that R18+ games can be sold, but there is literally no law to manage that process — no details on punishment for sale to minors, no set rules on how the games can be displayed. Nothing.

“There’s no reference to it,” explained the spokesperson from Queensland’s Department of Justice, “There’s nothing in the legislation that prohibits it, because we’ve never had [an R18+ rating] before.”

This puts Queensland in a precarious situation. By delaying its own legislation Queensland has practically guaranteed it will have zero provisions or restrictions on how R18+ video games will be sold in its state for up to three months. This means that, technically, retailers could sell adult games to children with no fear of punishment from the State.
Dazhel
Posted 09:15pm 03/12/12
If R18+ is not referenced in the legislation then surely if it ever came down to it a magistrate would apply some common sense and have it fall under 'unclassified' because it's not a classification recognised by QLD.

If that isn't the case then it sounds like a pretty flimsy law. Otherwise retailers could potentially just use foreign classification systems and/or sell games that the classification board has given an A+ for Awesome rating.

Edit: This seems to be relevant - http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/legisltn/current/c/classcomgama95.pdf
I'm no lawyer but if I'm reading it correctly then a QLD classification officer has the power to reclassify games sold within the state to a different classification from the federal system if they wanted to.
Khel
Posted 09:17pm 03/12/12
Pretty hard to police though, it'd be an insignificant amount of effort required to get them from another state, and its not like it'd have to go through customs and get checked or anything (not that that really worked in the past).
Whoop
Posted 09:44pm 03/12/12
yarrrr
natslovR
Posted 09:52pm 03/12/12
This is great, Publishers can pull out all their old "Banned in Queensland" stickers for promoting their stuff
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