Since Australia's State Attorneys-General can't ever seem to get their heads together on the issue of a national adults-only rating for video games, one state is breaking off and introducing its own R18+ classification. [Updated]
John Rau, the Attorney-General of the state of South Australia, has got backing from cabinet to implement an R18+ classification for video games sold just in the state.
Which is a little wacky considering Australia normally likes to do these things on a national basis (we're a small country where state boundaries aren't as important as they are in other Federal States), but it's not without precedent: the Australian Capital Territory, where I live, is one of only two places in Australia you can buy full-blown, X-rated pornography over the counter, which is an exemption from the national classification guidelines.
Everywhere else it's illegal. So this would be like that, only for video games.
The introduction of an R18+ rating in South Australia (whose population is a relatively small 1.6 million of Australia's 22 million) would only come if a federal rating was not introduced later this year, as this would obviously remove the need for SA to go it alone.
UPDATE - The ACT now says they'll look at a similar "go it alone" approach if a national consensus can't be found.
UPDATE 2 - John Rau's people have told Kotaku AU that the original GameSpot report "is a bit misleading", and says "We wanted to clarify that if the Federal Government decides to go ahead with an R18+ rating we will follow suit. But if the Attorneys-General leave without a consensus, and the Federal Government decides to drop the issue, we won't be going ahead with an R18+ rating."
South Australia to introduce R18+ for games [GameSpot]