I was watching Sunrise this morning and the R18+ discussion was mentioned for 5-10 mins. It basically came down to saying it isn't going to happen while the South Australian Attorney General says no.

I wonder how long this r18+ band wagon will go for?

Who was the dude that was interviewed?

Unfortunately, how the system is, yeah it's correct that if there is an A-G who is a strong opponent to the category then you're pushing s*** uphill because of the 'unanimous agreement' requirement.

However, at least there is a discussion paper - so public views will be heavily documented. Make sure you and your friends complete the submission template and fax/mail it off. It takes 5 min.

why can't the federal law be changed to remove the requirement of state's consent?

it'll probably require state consent to get THAT law changed too ara.

why can't the federal law be changed to remove the requirement of state's consent?

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.

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 their own decision about whether to permit the sale of each classification category and not all jurisdictions would necessarily make the same decision.

Because each State and Territory enacts their own laws for censorship therefore all must consent to the changes.

This is why there is a petition in Queensland to have the law include R18+ for computer games. If this came into law then the Classification Board would be forced to include the R18+ classification for Queensland effectively circumventing the South Australian refusal.

Link to the video if anyone missed it.

EDIT: Just watched it, I was relieved to see the hosts of sunrise gave a fair and even debate.

last edited by Lynx at 11:05:50 16/Dec/09

mel and beretts are professionals matey

all the hosts of sunrise are, unlike the tripe on channel 9 which makes me sick to my stomach

ahahahahaha

Actually hurricaneJim, ara and seven ... it's because the state is actualy the soveriegn entity. The states can sesceed, Western Australia a referendum on it in 33, and it has been brought up since then. And on this particular issue they never actually handed over power. Who knows.

New Zealand and Fiji were even part of the inital process and could have been part of Australia much of our constitution and theirs is written so that could still be done.

It's why when people talk abolishing the state government, I sigh inside. It makes perfect sense except that Australia is a federation of those states, with out the states Australia doesn't exist in law.

I wonder how long this r18+ band wagon will go for?

Until the internet filter uproar dies down? It really does feel like this really picked up by the mainstream media just before the internet filter was approved, and in the same vein I don't see much about the internet filter being approved in non-technical media?