Opposition Leader Tony Abbott tonight said he would be happy to examine the issue of an R18+ classification rating for video games if the Coalition won the upcoming Federal Election, although he admitted he did not know there had been a debate on the issue.

“If what happens with video games is not roughly analogous to what happens in other areas, that seems silly,” Abbott said in response to a question from an audience member on the Daily Telegraph’s leadership question and answer session at Sydney’s Rooty Hill RSL tonight.

“Instinctively I’m with you, and it’s something I’d be happy to look at, if we are in Government,” he added. “If you think there is a problem, I would be happy to look at it.”

State and Federal Attorneys-General have for some time stood in the way of lobbying efforts by the video game industry and gamers themselves to create an R18+ classification for Games in Australia. The lack of such a system has meant that a number of games have been prohibited from being released in Australia, and others – such as Valve’s popular Left 4 Dead 2 game — have had to be modified to remove aspects that the Classification Board has found objectionable.

Former South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson – one of the most vocal opponents of a R18+ classification for games – even found himself facing a challenge in his own seat at the South Australian state election earlier this year from a political party pushing the issue.

However, despite the fact that there is a Federal Government review into the matter ongoing, Abbott admitted he didn’t know it had been an issue. “It’s not an area that I’m particularly familiar with,” he said. “I didn’t know there was a problem here.”

NBN still an issue
Abbott also faced questions from the audience regarding the Coalition’s National Broadband Network policy, which has been broadly pilloried since Tuesday morning when it was announced.

The central planks of the policy are a competitive backhaul network, regional and metropolitan wireless networks and an ADSL enrichment program that will target telephone exchanges without ADSL2+ broadband. Under the Coalition Policy, the NBN will be cancelled and NBN Co broken up and its assets sold to the private sector.

“How can you guarantee it’s the best way to advance technologically, because wireless isn’t as good?” Macquarie University student Cassie asked Abbott.

The Opposition Leader replied that he would rather not commit to such a “gargantuan expenditure” such as the Gillard Labor Government is planning to with its NBN policy, adding that he might want a really fantastic car, but he “had to buy the car that I can afford”.

“If your car is going to break down anyway, why not just spend the money?!” Cassie responded.

Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she had been asked to respond to Abbott’s apparent lack of technical knowledge on the broadband policy – especially his performance on the 7:30 Report last night, when he stated he was “no Bill Gates” and not a tech-head, so couldn’t easily go into the details.

Gillard said her criticism with Abbott with respect to the Coalition’s policy was not that he didn’t know the technical details – her criticism was that the Opposition Leader would cancel the NBN if elected.

Image credit: Screenshot from Epic’s Gears of War game

Related posts:

1. Abbott pledges sleepless NBN vigilance
2. “I’m no Bill Gates,” says Tony Abbott
3. Abbott is a Luddite, says Conroy
4. Abbott just doesn’t get the NBN, says Gillard
5. Scrap the NBN, says Abbott, and build some roads

1. Matthew Hatton
   Posted 11/08/2010 at 9:56 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I still think you’re beating his statements up. Even knowing what we know what Abbott is like when he’s not reading off a script, you can’t possibly think that his comments constitute anything of value or meaning.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 11/08/2010 at 10:05 pm | Permalink | Reply

     I don’t see how I’m beating his statements up. To the best of my knowledge I quoted him precisely on what he said in public. I’m simply reporting them — and we must hold him to those statements — even though they were off the cuff — should the Coalition take power.

2. Matthew Hatton
   Posted 11/08/2010 at 10:11 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Oh you quoted him word for word, but I think you’re taking this one out of context. I didn’t get the impression from Abbott’s response that wasn’t anything more than merely just agreeing with the questioner because he honestly had never even heard of what he was talking about before; and you can’t extrapolate that out into a potential government policy. Especially when passing of such a law rests with state governments, rather than federal.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 11/08/2010 at 10:32 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Of course you can extrapolate it into a policy. That is what the press does. We ask a politician a question. Depending on what they answer, that will give a clue as to their intention when in power, and what direction they will push in their own party.

     If Abbott does get into power, I will be reminding the Coalition of this statement and demanding they examine the issue as they promised.

     Is it a beat-up? He said it on national TV.

3. ahrenm
   Posted 12/08/2010 at 12:14 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I will enjoy multiplayer un-mod’ed Solider Of Fortune over my high latency national wireless network..

   Wahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

4. Clytie Siddall
   Posted 13/08/2010 at 5:05 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Glitch-lag… glitch-lag… the future under Abbott. :(