South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has committed to repeal unpopular amendments to the South Australia Electoral Act 1985. The amendments would have made it illegal for people to anonymously comment on the upcoming state election online.

The decision to repeal came after harsh criticism from online news sites, bloggers and everyday Internet users who posted comments about the issue.

Atkinson can be seen apologising in an online video.

The amendments that are to be repealed by Atkinson were highlighted in this post.

[EDIT]: South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has committed to repeal these unpopular amendments.

Amendments to the South Australia Electoral Act 1985 that came into effect on the January 6 will mean that anyone wishing to post a comment about the SA state election will be legally required to include their real name and postcode. The restriction will only apply during the election which extends from after the writs have been issued until 6pm on polling day.

Many supporters for the introduction of the R18+ for games debate are hoping for SA Attorney-General Michael Atkinson to lose his seat in the upcoming election as he is strongly opposed to an R18+ for games and has the power to veto the change.

The change to the act was included in a number of amendments that were made last year and was supported by the Opposition. The part of the act that has been changed is quoted below with the changes emphasized.

116—Published material to identify person responsible for political content

(1) A person must not, during an election period, publish material consisting of, or containing a commentary on, any candidate or political party, or the issues being submitted to electors, in written form, in a journal published in electronic form on the Internet or by radio or television or broadcast on the Internet, unless the material or the programme in which the material is presented contains a statement of the name and address (not being a post office box) of a person who takes responsibility for the publication of the material.

Maximum penalty:

(a)     if the offender is a natural person—$1 250;

(b)     if the offender is a body corporate—$5 000.

(2)     This section does not apply to—

(a)     the publication in a journal (including a journal published in electronic form on the Internet) of a leading article;

(b)     the publication of a report of a meeting that does not contain any comment (other than comment made by a speaker at the meeting) on any candidate, or political party, or the issues being submitted to electors;

(c)     the publication in a journal (including a journal published in electronic form on the Internet) of an article, letter, report or other matter if—

(i)     the name and address (not being a post office box) of a person who takes responsibility for the publication of the material is provided to the publisher of the journal and retained by the publisher for a period of 6 months after the end of the election period; and

(ii)     the journal contains a statement of the name and postcode of the person who takes responsibility for the publication of the material;

(ca)    the publication of a letter (otherwise than as described in paragraph (c)) that contains the name and address (not being a post office box) of the author of the letter;

(d)     a news service or a current affairs programme on radio or television or broadcast on the Internet;

(e)     any other prescribed material or class of material.

(3)     In this section—

journal means a newspaper, magazine or other periodical.

Gamers 4 Croydon have announced some candidates for the South Australian election this year. The G4C website also tells us to expect further candidates to be announced at a later date.  The two candidates announced so far are Kat Nicholson and Chris Prior.

Kat Nicholson will be running directly against Michael Atkinson in the electoral district of Croydon

Some information about the candidates from the G4C website:

Candidate for Croydon: Kat Nicholson

Kat has sustained a lifelong love of both gaming and politics and is a highly intelligent, motivated and educated young woman. She completed a BA at Flinders University and is currently studying a Masters in journalism at the University of South Australia. She spent a year as an intern at one of Adelaide’s leading animation studios, and has a long history of participation in community and amateur theater.

Candidate for the Legislative Council: Chris Prior

Chris is the President of Gamers4Croydon and will be leading the G4C ticket in the upper house. He is a self-taught software engineer, and has volunteered extensively in the community, providing help for youth groups and church organisations.

More information available on the G4C website.

Gamers 4 Croydon

Gamers 4 Croydon will be in Adelaide over the next few days attempting to sign up more people to reach the 150 required to officially register the party.

Dates and locations sourced from http://www.gamers4croydon.org/

Friday the 4th, between 5:30pm and 7pm, Gamers4Croydon will be signing people up to the party, again at the Rundle Mall’s balls.

Friday the 4th, sometime after 7pm and until at least 11pm, Gamers4Croydon will be at StreetGeek LAN at the Colonel Light Gardens Uniting Church to get more signatures of keen R18+ advocates.

Saturday the 5th, between 11:30am and 12:30pm, Gamers4Croydon will be signing people up to the party outside the Intencity arcade inside Marion Shopping Centre (right next to the cinemas on the top level).

Saturday the 5th, between 2pm and 5pm, Gamers4Croydon will be attending Valhalla LAN at the St Clair Recreation Centre to ensure that we are well and truly over the 150 electors target.

The Treat Us Like Adults Rally is also being held in Brisbane on the Saturday 5th of December at 11am, King George Square.

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>