Qld: R rated games too violent for Qld

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Qld: R rated games too violent for Qld

By Alex Murdoch

BRISBANE, Aug 18 AAP - The Queensland opposition today slammed the government for consideringallowing the sale of sexually explicit and violent video games.

Their outrage flared as the state government yesterday confirmed its long running banon R rated games could be lifted as early as Christmas, under proposed changes to censorshiplaws.

"I thought governments were elected to make society better - not worse," oppositionleader Mike Horan said.

He said the games would pose a huge risk for young people by introducing them to extremevices, including explicit sex, drugs and violence.

Angry family groups agreed, telling The Sunday Mail it could lead to copy-cat murdersand other other crimes.

Family Association of Queensland president labelled the idea as dangerous to the public's health.

"Computer games are interactive, (posing) a greater risk to young adults than R ratedmovies," Mr Baker told The Sunday Mail.

A decision on the censorship changes would be made in two months at a meeting of thefederal and state attorney-generals.

But under current guidelines all computer or video games rated higher than MA15+ are banned.

Mr Horan said in the wake of September 11 he thought societal emphasis had been refocusedon family values.

But the legalisation of R rated games would prove him wrong.

AAP am/cjh/br

KEYWORD: GAMES