Australia, March 24, 2010 - South Australian Premier Mike Rann yesterday announced that first-time minister John Rau will become the South Australian Attorney-General, now that Michael Atkinson has resigned from the front bench.

That's all well and good, but what's his stance on the introduction of an R18+ classification for videogames? Well, according to a Twitter post from Gamers4Croydon's Chris Prior "New SA Attorney-General is John Rau, a supporter or the R18+ classification for games (and a nice guy, to boot)".

A Gamers4Croydon representative told us that this statement was based on a personal comment John Rau made to Chris Prior, and is obviously very good news for Australian gamers. Mr Prior also posted the following on the Gamers4Croydon website on March 22 after Michael Atkison stepped aside:

Seeing the role of Attorney-General filled by someone other than Mr Atkinson was a primary founding goal of Gamers4Croydon. With less than 6 months to prepare, no political experience, and only a few thousand dollars funding, we have achieved that goal. With so very little to work with, we have contributed to two other incumbents losing their seats, and all of our lower house candidates polled higher than the 1% we apparently wouldn't get. In the upper house, we outpolled the majority of groups, including a significant number with more resources, more experience, and much more time.

What this now means for the introduction of the R classification remains to be seen. Unfortunately there are never any guarantees in politics, but we have removed the largest impediment to classification reform. We have raised a significant amount of awareness in the community about the problems with the classification system. We have sent a major warning to every Attorney General in the country that blocking positive reform is not only bad for the community but will hurt them politically. We have led by example, helped improve the level of discourse in the online community, and placed gamers in a better position than ever before to be heard and taken seriously.

The fight for an R18+ classification, genuine representation, and proactive and accountable government is far from over. Gamers4Croydon's campaign is far from over. Together with the gaming community and fellow progressives, we have heralded a new generation of politically savvy voters, and sent a strong warning to all who would use the power entrusted to them by the people, for themselves...

For the full post click here. The question on Aussie gamers' lips now is whether the next meeting of the Attorney-Generals will include a discussion of the R18+ issue. Given that over 60,000 submissions were recorded for the public discussion paper, it may well be a little premature to expect all that public interest to have been digested. We'll let you know when we find out.