Days after the South Australia state election, Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has tendered his resignation from the front bench but will remain in parliament until the 2014 state election. Atkinson appears to have hung on to his seat despite suffering an 11% swing against him after the distribution of preferences. It is his belief that there are others on the backbench who should have a go.
I wouldn’t blame him.
I won’t go into too much detail here but if you want to look at my prior articles, check out:
- Michael Atkinson – Mr Anti-Bean
- Attorney-General: Games Scarier Than Bikers
- Australian Video Game Classifications – Out of Touch
- Political Backflip with a Twist
- An Attack on Online Anonymity
In my opinion, this guy has no clue and has been guided more by his conservative religious beliefs as opposed to representing the views of his constituents. One could hope that there would be someone in the Labor ranks that would be more in touch with digital Australia.
Can we expect to see the approval of an R18+ rating for video games any time soon? It all depends upon who is made Attorney-General in the Labor cabinet. Time will tell.
I, for one, am happy that Atkinson is on his way. I don’t expect everyone to share my point of view on any given topic but I find it hard to defend Atkinson holding out on the nation with his sole opposition to the revision of video game classifications.
What will be interesting is if he or the new Attorney-General will repeal the ludicrous law requiring print and digital content publishers to gather and record the full name and address of those that submit content as per his statement after much fuss.
I won’t be holding my breath.
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