The Australian Classification Review Board is a statutory censorship and classification body overseen by the Australian Government. The corporate body is responsible for reviewing classification decisions made by the Australian Classification Board concerning films, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australia. Review decisions need to be initiated by an appeal from a previous applicant, most commonly referred to as "aggrieved party", or a Federal or State Attorney-General.
, the board comprises a convenor, deputy convenor and five other board members. The current convenor is former senator Sue Knowles, who was appointed in January 2019 to a two-year term.
Organizations
The Classification Review Board is a statutory body established by the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 (Cth). This Act also provides a basis for the National Classification Code which guides their decision making. As the State and Territory governments retain responsibility for enforcing censorship and could withdraw from, or ignore the national classification scheme if they so wished, any changes to the national classification scheme must be agreed to by all the State and Territory Censorship Ministers (usually Attorneys-General). South Australia is the only state to maintain a separate Classification Council which can override national classification decisions applicable within the state.
The Classification Review Board does not censor material by ordering cuts or changes. However, they are able to effectively censor media by refusing classification and making the media illegal for hire, exhibit and import to Australia.
Classification decisions
Below is a list of films reviewed by the Classification Review Board after having their initial ratings appealed. Each film includes a summary of its decision, with detailed reports of the reviews from 2001 to 2020 available at the Australian Classification website.
2021
Ascendant – The film was appealed to drop the MA15+ rating to an unrestricted M and succeeded as a result of the film's fantasy context appropriately justifying the themes and violence. Spiral: From the Book of Saw – StudioCanal failed to appeal the film's R18+ rating as a result of the violence having a high impact with no mitigation, despite most of the previous Saw films being rated MA15+; in addition, the consumer advice was upgraded from 'High impact violence' to 'High impact violence, blood and gore'. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut – Studio ZA/UM successfully appealed the game's ban and received an R18+ rating on the basis of the in-game drug use having negative effects on the player. The Suicide Squad – The review board unanimously determined that the film's classification should be downgraded from R18+ to MA15+. They noted that both the comedic and fantasy context mitigated the impact of the violence. The Children in the Pictures – Downgraded from an MA15+ to an unrestricted M rating due to the documentary's purpose of educating audiences about the dangers of child exploitation. Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Sony Pictures successfully appealed to lower the film to a PG rating due to the focus on science and humour mitigating the supernatural threat.
2020
Cuties – The Australian Christian Lobby appealed the film's rating in order to ban it for pedophilia concerns. The claim was deemed invalid by the Review Board and the film kept its MA15+ rating.
2019
Hellboy – Roadshow Entertainment failed to appeal the film's R18+ rating for an MA15+, because the cumulative impact of the violence was not mitigated enough by the fantasy context. Rocketman – Successfully appealed from MA15+ to an M rating due to the film's lone use of 'cunt' being used as an act of self-reflection rather than as an aggressive insult directed at another.
2018
Bumblebee – The film's original version received an M rating for 'Action violence'. A cut version was sent and received the same M rating. Paramount Pictures appealed the cut version's rating and won a PG rating because the themes, violence and language were deemed to be mild in impact. We Happy Few – Gearbox Publishing appealed the game's refusal of classification on behalf of Compulsion Games and won, obtaining an R18+. The board found that the use of drugs in the game do not relate to incentives or rewards. The game's Lightbearer DLC was banned in August 2019 via the automated IARC system for drug use relating to incentives and rewards; Gearbox has yet to appeal the DLC's ban.