About a month ago we sent South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson an E-mail and yesterday we received a 6 page reply:

You can view the letter by clicking the thumbnails of the pages above (left to right), or by downloading all the pages as a PDF.

Unfortunately, it only answers some of the questions in my E-mail:

South Australian Attorney-General, Hon. Michael Atkinson MP
GPO Box 464
ADELAIDE SA 5001

Dear Minister,

I would like to thank you for continuing to engage the public on the matter of a R18+ rating for computer games. While I do not agree with you on occasion I believe your intentions are good and I respect your point of view.

Since recently becoming interested in this topic I have done some research and find myself with some questions that you may be able to answer.

On the 27th of March 2008 The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General agreed to undertake a process of community consultation in relation to whether an R18+ classification for computer games should be introduced into the National Classification Scheme.

It is my understanding that a Discussion Paper had been drafted but a disagreement on the proposed content had delayed its release. In particular the disagreement over the inclusion of illustrations to demonstrate the type of content an R18+ game would contain.

On the 17th of April 2009 The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General noted that the commonwealth intends to release a discussion paper on an r 18+ classification for computer games.

In a recent interview The Hon Brendan O’Connor was quoted as saying: “The content of the discussion paper and the timing of its release are under consideration by the Australian Government.”

My questions are as follows:

* Would it be possible to obtain copies of the images that had caused the initial disagreement?

* What process needs to be undertaken by the Commonwealth in order to have this Discussion paper released to the public? In particular who needs to agree on it’s content?

Kind regards,

Aaron John.

<My address>

We have just been informed via a Facebook message that Nick ‘Enigma’ Gipson who is organizing a nationwide R18+ for games rally has received a reply to an email he sent to Margaret Pomeranz.

Dear Nick,

I would very much like to have supported you in the protest but unfortunately I am committed elsewhere on that day.  Can I ask why you’re doing it on a Saturday?  AG’s are unlikely to be in their offices.  I imagine it’s because you are all working but surely a lunch-time protest would mean more people around, including AG’s. I have the Annual General Meeting of Watch on Censorship coming up this weekend and I’ll bring the matter up with them, see if there’s anything we can do.  The hard head on this is the South Australian AG Michael Atkinson.  I believe all the other states voted in favour of an R-rating for video games, based on the report recommendations of the OFLC.  Bob Debus was the AG of NSW then.  He’s now in Federal Parliament and I believe retiring at the next election.  He may be worthwhile contacting before he goes, he knows the system and may be able to give you advice.  But while one AG has the power of veto it’s going to be a long hard road to achieve anything.  The frustrating thing is being in a position where one state – South Australia – has the power to determine the situation for all of Australia.  Not democratic at all.

I wish you luck.  I think you have right on your side.

I’ll be in touch if WoC can do anything to help.  Just sorry I can’t on the day.

Regards,

Margaret Pomeranz

Margaret Pomeranz was also recently interviewed by Byteside.

For information about Nick’s rally visit:  http://left4r18.xtremenetworkonline.com/

We have updated the website with a list of corporate, magazine and other new publications.

List of Corporate Contacts

If you have written a short opinion piece our would like to advocate our cause, be sure to get in contact with the noted organizations.

You can now follow updates by following our Twitter account and #growupaustralia tag!

http://twitter.com/growupaustralia

A message to all our supporting Facebook members!

Dear Supporters,

We have almost reached 5000 members which is phenomenal! Thank-you!

Having started this group only a few weeks ago, your support has helped our cause reach radio, newspapers and multiple websites. With over 1000 responses for our petition and short survey, all of us have played a part in raising awareness about this issue. It is only the beginning…

Unfortunately once we exceed 5000 members in our Facebook group, it will cease to give us the ability to send out important updates.

For future updates, you will be able to subscribe to the RSS feed or mailing list from our website, https://www.growupaustralia.com. We have also put all of the latest news from various related sources on the site. Hopefully this makes it easier for you to stay involved, and keep track of new changes and developments for R18+ in Australia.

Be sure to continue passing the ‘Grow up Australia’ links to your friends, so we can continue to raise awareness and build momentum towards R18+ for Australia!

Website: https://www.growupaustralia.com

Regards,

Aaron & Jake

A big thank you to Peta for having Aaron on SkidRow radio to talk about an R18 rating for video games.

Be sure to visit the reddit page (mentioned by Peta) to post your comments for next weeks show.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHBuU2NXMDlyS3NyZUQtT2NaUHc5bFE6MA

We have reached a milestone of 1000 signatures! Thanks to everyone who has signed so far. Be sure to continue to pass the link on; the more signatures means more weight behind our cause.

We will upload some preliminary survey results soon. Be sure to continue checking the Facebook group for more information.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162911908378

Thanks to all the people that sent their emails and letters last Monday the 9th. If you wern’t able to send your email or letter at that time, you can still do so now and help advocate our cause!

If you need help writing a letter you can copy and paste the template found here: http://www.r18games.com.au/help/

We’re in today’s Sydney mX! Thanks for getting the word out Aaron!

Sydney mX: 06 November

Best of all, there is instructions on the bottom right if you would like to do the same 🙂

We wrote an E-mail to NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos. His reply can be read below .

John Hatzistergos Letter

We encourage everyone to write their own letter to their Attorney-General. If you would like a reply to your letter be sure to include you postal address.

Commonwealth Attorney-General – Brendan O’Connor
Email: Brendan.O’Connor.MP@aph.gov.au

South Australian Attorney-General – Hon. Michael Atkinson
Email: attorney-general@agd.sa.gov.au

New South Wales Attorney-General – Hon. John Hatzistergos
Email: office@hatzistergos.minister.nsw.gov.au

Queensland Attorney-General – Hon. Cameron Dick
Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Victorian Attorney-General – Hon. Rob Hulls
Email: rob.hulls@parliament.vic.gov.au

Tasmanian Attorney-General – Hon. Lara Giddings
Email: lara.giddings@parliament.tas.gov.au

Western Australian Attorney-General – Hon. Christian Porter
Email: Minister.Porter@dpc.wa.gov.au

Australian Capital Territory – Mr Simon Corbell
Email: simon.corbell@act.gov.au

Northern Territory – Dr Chris Burns
Email: minister.burns@nt.gov.au