Michael Atkinson steps down from his Attorney-General position

PALGN News | Will no longer be able to veto R18+ rating.

Michael Atkinson unexpectedly announced this morning that he will be stepping down from his Attorney-General position to retire to the South Australian back bench. The announcement was made at 10.45am this morning by Atkinson outside the church he attends.

The South Australian election is still on-going. There is currently a 7% swing towards the Liberals state-wide and a 12% swing against Michael Atkinson in Croydon. While it is highly likely Labour will remain in power and Atkinson will not lose his seat, this does indicate dissatisfaction from the electorate.

A new Attorney-General will need to be chosen for South Australia.

The impact of this on the R18+ rating for video games is significant. Michael Atkinson was the most vocal opponent. Not being in the Attorney-General position means he will no longer be able to veto an R18+ rating for video games. It is largely unknown what position the other Attorney-General's hold, while some have supported the change no others have been vocal in its opposition.

This move makes it even more important for the R18+ rating to be discussed at the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) on April 29th. At this point it is still unknown if it will be on the agenda.

More news as we find it.

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49 Comments

Mr Waffle

3 years ago

Suddenly, in the horizon, dawn breaks, and a new day appears...

The Brett

3 years ago

*Pops champagne cork*

Gtpod

3 years ago

ArcherGrave

3 years ago

Your fail link fails

Camm

3 years ago

OMFG.

Epic Win!

Puddingfork

3 years ago

YES, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

dloiscute

3 years ago

Happy!

John Marston

3 years ago

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/in-depth/attorney-general-michael-atkinson-to-quit-front-bench/story-fn2sdwup-1225843341005

Thats the link!

shiraj

3 years ago

well - most of me wants to party at this news, but this will take the fun out of the fight - kind of a lame boss battle with ridiculously bad AI...

Frozencry

3 years ago

^Atkinson was totally not good AI, all he did was rubber band. That's bad design dude.

Jeremy

3 years ago

If you're thinking that the R18 rating is now a sure thing, think again. If anything, we have even more incentive to push this campaign forward. Now that our major obstacle has been removed, now is the time to get as many people as you know onto the Everyoneplays campaign. There are still 3.5 weeks to go and while a lot of gamers have signed up, now's the time to get your family and friends involved.

shiraj

3 years ago

^^ already signed it on day 1, got my friends to sign it as well who dont play games...

@ Denny, agree but rubberbanding also gives you challenges ala NFS MW,

Now this will be a cakewalk compared to a day ago. "prey" on easy mode, anyone?

battlegrub

3 years ago

News Limited online poll:

Are you happy that Michael Atkinson will no longer be South Australia's Attorney-General?
Yes
97.89% (418 votes)
No
2.11% (9 votes)
Total votes: 427

Wowzer

x7h3CUREx

3 years ago

omfg. my cat decided to piss into my PC power supply this morning and short it out. i've spend the day cleaning the carpet and getting rid of the stench and i had pretty much written the day off a shit one until this.

kartanym

3 years ago

Despite all this, I do feel sorry for him. He believed in something that no-one else did, and despite the fact that he may hold his seat after the election is over, it's almost as if he knew he couldn't stay. Perhaps we should take comfort in the knowledge that he's decided to step down instead of carrying on. As much as we, as a gaming community, aren't fans of his work, he has a family to take care of and that's far more important than any game rating or anything else for that matter. He's made the right decision, and for once, I agree with him and thank him for knowing what's right.

As for the rating itself, our work is never over. Continue pushing what's right and eventually people will listen. But we can't stop now.

djrussell

3 years ago

dloiscute wrote

I

Am

So

Happy!

lol Yay! Hopefully the next guy wont be as big of a douche as Atkinson was.

ashlar

3 years ago

Labor won which I was sad about. but this is the best news of the day!

Soap of Death

3 years ago

Good to hear but as pointed out his replacement could be as bad or even worse than him, regardless there's still a long way to go before we might see an R18 rating introduced.

THEMAN

3 years ago

douche bag's social politics ruined him. His successor would no doubt take note of how it fell apart near the end.

GooberMan

3 years ago

Here's hoping his replacement has a shred of common sense and doesn't piss off everyone from the locals to people in other states.

Full Metal Jackoff

3 years ago

Had the coalition won, I could guarantee they'd shoehorn in someone as Attorney General who would also maintain an anti-R18+ stance and 'protect the children' rhetoric, to appease Family First and other special interest groups. Couple that with some potential for more classic tard moves such as the one-way expressway and privatising electricity, the election result and stepping down is possibly the best case scenario,. outside of all parties dissolving and candidates having to compete for seats on 'It's A Knockout!', of course.

mikezilla2

3 years ago

GooberMan wrote

Here's hoping his replacement has a shred of common sense and doesn't piss off everyone from the locals to people in other states.

thats what im wondering about goober what dos that mean for said internet filter ? will someone else push the envelope ? im really not srue , it is good news tho.

jesuslol

3 years ago

So did he jump or was he pushed?

He has made some big mistakes and was a bit of an embarrassment to the party after the whole internet anonymity debacle.

Sinthesys

3 years ago

All he's done is made a bargain that allows him to stay entrenched for another 4 years. This is a small victory, but slightly disappointing we couldn't boot his wrinkly behind out a little quicker.

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