15 recommendations to help protect kids, inform parents + carers
The National Classification Scheme - the regulatory framework for classifying films, computer games and certain publications - is in need of an urgent and major overhaul. We were pleased to make a submission in the hope that new reforms will create a more trustworthy, consistent and fit-for-purpose system - one which protects children, and adequately informs parents and carers about what content their children can safely consume.
Our Recommendations
Recommendation 1: We support the updated Guiding Principles proposed by Neville Stevens in the 2020 report on Classification Reform:
- Adults should be able to read, hear, see, and play what they want, with some important exceptions;
- Minors should be protected from content likely to harm or disturb them;
- Everyone should be protected from exposure to content of serious concern to the
wellbeing of the community.
Recommendation 2: The proposed criteria should be clarified so that material needs to meet only one of the first three requirements, rather than all three.
Recommendation 3: Manga and other graphic novels should be submitted for classification.
Recommendation 4: A Classification Advisory Panel should include expertise in sexual and domestic violence, victim centred care for child sexual abuse survivors, understanding the links between pornography fueling attitudes which drive violence against women,14 child development and psychology, mental health, parenting, teen and young adult wellbeing, and respectful relationships.
Recommendation 5: Introduce a new evidence-informed age-based ratings system with the following categories: G (all), 5+, 9+, 12+, 16+, and 18+. From 12+, ratings should have legal force.
Recommendation 6: The advisory committee should consider evidence for the impacts on children of depictions of sexual references and sexual objectification of female characters, and whether and how classification should appropriately deal with this issue.
Recommendation 7: Guidelines should give greater weight to the possibility that sexualised depictions of children are exploitative rather than that they may be justified by storyline, artistic merit or intended audience. Whether or not depictions are animated or real should not be taken into consideration.
Recommendation 8: The RC category should be renamed “Prohibited” and should be informed by available empirical evidence of potential harm, in addition to illegal material, as recommended by Neville Stevens in the May 2020 report on classification reform.
Recommendation 9: Pornography should no longer be treated by default as ‘adult content’, but as commercialised sexual exploitation and thus harmful.
Recommendation 10: Continue to discuss with Valve the way forward to have all games classified and to prevent minor users from accessing Adult content (this task is for eSafety but will be part of enforcing the Classification Scheme).
Recommendation 11: Consider how Apple’s App Store can be held accountable and align with an acceptable ratings system for Australia’s laws.
Recommendation 12: Consolidation of classification functions must be accompanied by a robust, timely, and enforceable complaints mechanism.
Recommendation 13: Align the National Classification Code and Guidelines with the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, ensuring that sexualised depictions of minors are never permitted and can never be justified by context, literary or artistic merit, educational value, or intended audience.
Recommendation 14: Age verification is necessary to make classification of online materials meaningful and effective in protecting children.
Recommendation 15: Ensure that there is an appropriate process for reviewing classification decisions, including those made by accredited classifiers.
Click image below to read our full submission.
See our full list of submissions here.
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