"I’ll be appealing against that classification, I think it’s wrong," Atkinson told Radio National (via Kotaku). "[The classification] doesn’t surprise me. The Classification Board in Australia does everything to try to get games in under the radar. But just because the system is not being applied properly, it does not mean that the principles of the system are wrong.
"What I want the Classification Board to do is to apply the guidelines properly. What I don’t want is the extremely violent, sexually depraved, drug use games in Australia at all. At the cinema, we can stop people under 18 going in to see R18+ rated movies. We can’t stop these games that are extremely violent and depraved from getting into the home or getting into the hands of children."
Atkinson didn't hold back on his opinion of the Classification Board either, stating that, even if a R18+ rating would eventually come to pass, he would use his role in drawing up for the guidelines for the rating to make sure that "extremely violent, sexually depraved, drug use games" wouldn't slip through the cracks.
"I have no trust in the Classification Board to apply the guidelines sincerely and correctly...thus to draw up such guidelines would be to do so in sure and certain knowledge that they would be stretched and then broken."
When asked about the Commonwealth discussion paper on the R18+ rating, due to be released to the public in April earlier this year, Atkinson said that he did not know why it had not been released.
For the latest on the R18+ debate, check out the EveryonePlays Blog.
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