Australian Government Seeks Public Input Into R18+ Game Ratings

[Doug]

Here's the problem Atkinson presents:

Much as many people would like to, you can't kill him, kidnap him, or use threats of violence. Any such thing only proves him right, which would set the adult-rated games movement back even further.

You can't reason with him, bargain with him, or talk things over, for he is a true zealot and beyond the ability to adjust his perspective. He would not bend to pressure from the citizenry, nor from the government. So long as he holds the position he does, he won't budge.

That means the only way to deal with this is to remove him from office. I don't know the legalities of that for Aussieland, I don't know if his position is for life once appointed, or held through elections. I don't know if you can oust him for corruption, bias, or incompetence. Whatever the way, my Aussie buds, the only way you will get your AvP and uncensored L4D is if Atkinstink loses his job. That, or wait for old age to set in.

Oh, and I hope Atkinfuck realizes just how many people hate him. Like Jack Thompson, the inevitable funeral will have a lineup a million men deep, each waiting to piss in his face before they seal the casket.

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

 

[Jonci]

Good luck Australians.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Well, I sent it in. Follow the link and my lead, people. They aren't just asking for Australians. The template asks for your country and state/post code as well. They want public opinions. Let's give them some.

 

[Distorted Stu]

OZZYS UNITE!

 

[Andy Chalk]

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

You're thinking of Governor General. Michael Atkinson is an Attorney General, an elected position.

 

[Cortexian]

Atkinson is the South Australian Attorney General. Basically that means that after the election where he was elected to represent his electorate (Croydon) (elect elect elect) he would have been assigned the position of state Governor General by the head of his state political party, which in this case is the Australian Labor Party.

To make it less retarded sounding:

Atkinson runs for election in the area in which he lives (or nearby) to represent them in state parliament.
The Labor Party gets the most seats in state parliament, which makes them "The State Government" for the time being while the Liberals etc become "The Opposition".
All the portfolios (Tourism, Attorney General etc) then get assigned to ministers within "The Government".
Atkinson gets assigned Attorney General (among other things) and then gets to play the fuckwad.


So, as has been stated, there's really no way to get rid of him short of voting him out. And that means either finding another Labor candidate in his electorate, voting for a different party or running for election in Croydon yourself and winning. Someone's already trying that:

Gamers4Croydon [http://www.gamers4croydon.org/]

 

[JakobBloch]

Hmm I wonder if they are interested in the opinions of the international community or just the Australian ones?

Edit: My question seems to have been answered already. so just ignore me.

 

[Doug]

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

You're thinking of Governor General. Michael Atkinson is an Attorney General, an elected position.

Ah, righto. Sorry, Commonwealth political structures are confusing, heh. So the GG is Queen appointed?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

As I said on the other discussion: How a Yes or No question is on a 3.69 Mb pdf...and surely Atkinson can just use the unanimous voting system to overide anything the public decides.

 

[dalek sec]

I have a feeling even if they did get it into the rules Atkinson will just use that bloody unanimous voting system to prevent them from doing anything.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Here's the problem Atkinson presents:

Much as many people would like to, you can't kill him, kidnap him, or use threats of violence. Any such thing only proves him right, which would set the adult-rated games movement back even further.

You can't reason with him, bargain with him, or talk things over, for he is a true zealot and beyond the ability to adjust his perspective. He would not bend to pressure from the citizenry, nor from the government. So long as he holds the position he does, he won't budge.

That means the only way to deal with this is to remove him from office. I don't know the legalities of that for Aussieland, I don't know if his position is for life once appointed, or held through elections. I don't know if you can oust him for corruption, bias, or incompetence. Whatever the way, my Aussie buds, the only way you will get your AvP and uncensored L4D is if Atkinstink loses his job. That, or wait for old age to set in.

Oh, and I hope Atkinfuck realizes just how many people hate him. Like Jack Thompson, the inevitable funeral will have a lineup a million men deep, each waiting to piss in his face before they seal the casket.

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

The queen has almost nothing to do with Australian politics. You're referring to our Governor-General, the most powerful (and thanks to the Whitlam fiasco, most useless) member of parliament.

And if Atkinson was that, then god help us all.

 

[Doug]

Here's the problem Atkinson presents:

Much as many people would like to, you can't kill him, kidnap him, or use threats of violence. Any such thing only proves him right, which would set the adult-rated games movement back even further.

You can't reason with him, bargain with him, or talk things over, for he is a true zealot and beyond the ability to adjust his perspective. He would not bend to pressure from the citizenry, nor from the government. So long as he holds the position he does, he won't budge.

That means the only way to deal with this is to remove him from office. I don't know the legalities of that for Aussieland, I don't know if his position is for life once appointed, or held through elections. I don't know if you can oust him for corruption, bias, or incompetence. Whatever the way, my Aussie buds, the only way you will get your AvP and uncensored L4D is if Atkinstink loses his job. That, or wait for old age to set in.

Oh, and I hope Atkinfuck realizes just how many people hate him. Like Jack Thompson, the inevitable funeral will have a lineup a million men deep, each waiting to piss in his face before they seal the casket.

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

The queen has almost nothing to do with Australian politics. You're referring to our Governor-General, the most powerful (and thanks to the Whitlam fiasco, most useless) member of parliament.

And if Atkinson was that, then god help us all.

O...k... so... who or how is the GG appointed?

 

[Altorin]

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

You're thinking of Governor General. Michael Atkinson is an Attorney General, an elected position.

Ah, righto. Sorry, Commonwealth political structures are confusing, heh. So the GG is Queen appointed?

yes, each of the commonwealth countries has a GG that is basically the country's single link to the queen, and technically the highest office living in the country

 

[eels05]

I'll give them my input.
Obviously sending emails to South Australia is a waste of time.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Do we have to be an Australian do send that email?


Also, Brendan O' Connor has the greatest name. Wanna know why?


My names Brendan.

 

[Altorin]

Do we have to be an Australian do send that email?


Also, Brendan O' Connor has the greatest name. Wanna know why?


My names Brendan.

I think that the fact that people are asking "Do we have to be Australian" is really going to undermine the whole action here.

Anything that comes out of it, Atkinson just has to find one person who emailed that wasn't from australia (or even get a friend of his to do it for him - he must have friends in other countries, being a public political figure), and it throws a negative light on the WHOLE thing.

Suddenly every email is questionable, and it will either be mired in bureaucracy as they sort out which emails actually are from their constituents, or they'll laugh the whole thing off and throw it away.

So my advice is, if you're not australian, don't send an email. Yes more emails seems like a good idea, but if it undermines the whole process, you create a net loss.

Of course, millions of non-aussies have probably already sent emails, but I would advise against it.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Do we have to be an Australian do send that email?


Also, Brendan O' Connor has the greatest name. Wanna know why?


My names Brendan.

I think that the fact that people are asking "Do we have to be Australian" is really going to undermine the whole action here.

Anything that comes out of it, Atkinson just has to find one person who emailed that wasn't from australia (or even get a friend of his to do it for him - he must have friends in other countries, being a public political figure), and it throws a negative light on the WHOLE thing.

Suddenly every email is questionable, and it will either be mired in bureaucracy as they sort out which emails actually are from their constituents, or they'll laugh the whole thing off and throw it away.

So my advice is, if you're not australian, don't send an email. Yes more emails seems like a good idea, but if it undermines the whole process, you create a net loss.

Of course, millions of non-aussies have probably already sent emails, but I would advise against it.

The form they have you send has a section to put your state/local code and your country, so they are already prepared for out-of-country emails.

 

[Andronicus]

Do we have to be an Australian do send that email?


Also, Brendan O' Connor has the greatest name. Wanna know why?


My names Brendan.

I think that the fact that people are asking "Do we have to be Australian" is really going to undermine the whole action here.

Anything that comes out of it, Atkinson just has to find one person who emailed that wasn't from australia (or even get a friend of his to do it for him - he must have friends in other countries, being a public political figure), and it throws a negative light on the WHOLE thing.

Suddenly every email is questionable, and it will either be mired in bureaucracy as they sort out which emails actually are from their constituents, or they'll laugh the whole thing off and throw it away.

So my advice is, if you're not australian, don't send an email. Yes more emails seems like a good idea, but if it undermines the whole process, you create a net loss.

Of course, millions of non-aussies have probably already sent emails, but I would advise against it.

Since our own broken ratings system means that some games will be watered down internationally, like Fallout 3 was, I would think that people from other countries are cerrtainly eligible to send emails as well. I haven't read the form yet, and definitely will do after this, but if you send an email saying you're from another country and expressing your concerns for the impact this will have on you, then I'm certain it should be perfectly valid.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Here's the problem Atkinson presents:

Much as many people would like to, you can't kill him, kidnap him, or use threats of violence. Any such thing only proves him right, which would set the adult-rated games movement back even further.

You can't reason with him, bargain with him, or talk things over, for he is a true zealot and beyond the ability to adjust his perspective. He would not bend to pressure from the citizenry, nor from the government. So long as he holds the position he does, he won't budge.

That means the only way to deal with this is to remove him from office. I don't know the legalities of that for Aussieland, I don't know if his position is for life once appointed, or held through elections. I don't know if you can oust him for corruption, bias, or incompetence. Whatever the way, my Aussie buds, the only way you will get your AvP and uncensored L4D is if Atkinstink loses his job. That, or wait for old age to set in.

Oh, and I hope Atkinfuck realizes just how many people hate him. Like Jack Thompson, the inevitable funeral will have a lineup a million men deep, each waiting to piss in his face before they seal the casket.

I'm not sure either - I think he is officially appointed by the Queen, but I suspect its actually approved by the Australian government when he gets put in. If the Australian government requested a new GG, she could replace him.

The queen has almost nothing to do with Australian politics. You're referring to our Governor-General, the most powerful (and thanks to the Whitlam fiasco, most useless) member of parliament.

And if Atkinson was that, then god help us all.

O...k... so... who or how is the GG appointed?

Oh, you're right about Governor-Generals, but Atkinson is South Australia's Attorney-General.

I can see why you made the mistake though, Australian politics are rather confusing.

But Atkinson gets voted in. His election is in (I think) March. But everybody doubts that he's going to get voted out.

 

[Zing]

Even if the Federal Government can't officially overthrow his decision this is at the very least, pressure on Michael Atkinson, this could bring new light to his, frankly undemocratic, "opinion" on the issue.