Completed and submitted to the Australian Government in May 2020, this report was made publicly available in March 2023.

Australia’s classification system has existed since the early 1900s and has evolved over the decades. From an early focus on censorship, the system has shifted to providing information and guidance to help parents make decisions about the suitability of content for children of varying ages and to provide all consumers with information to make informed choices.

There have been a number of reviews of classification arrangements including the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Classification—content regulation and convergent media: final report in 2012 and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Digital Platforms Inquiry: final report in 2019.

These reports highlighted deficiencies with current classification arrangements and recommended significant changes to take into account the increase in content available online and the convergence of media platforms.

Areas of concern raised by these reviews and reinforced by submissions to this review include:

• The high cost of the processes of the Classification Board (the Board), especially given the volume of content now requiring classification;
• Timeframes to use the Board which are too long to be compatible with current media practices;
• Separate regulatory systems and regulators for broadcast and for other content providers;
• Lack of clarity on what content should require classification due to the very wide and outdated definitions in current legislation;
• Lack of compliance with existing legislation among some content providers, including a number of video on demand providers and online games storefronts, partly as a result of the high cost and long timeframes of existing classification practices;
• Governance arrangements between the Australian Government and the states and territories, which could better define roles and responsibilities of the various parties in an online environment, and which are not seen as sufficiently timely or flexible; and 
• Lack of a regular approach to updating classification guidelines to reflect contemporary community concerns and research into relevant matters, including child development issues.

This review analysed these issues and made recommendations for change informed by the need for a future classification regulatory framework that:

• Is able to adapt to new technologies, market developments and emerging issues of community concern;
• Provides clear, useful and easily accessible information to enable consumers to make informed media choices for both themselves and for their children;
• Has evidence-based classification guidelines that are regularly updated, taking into regard both expert knowledge and Australian community standards;
• Enables classification arrangements that are efficient and cost-effective for industry, that are consistent across content platforms and which have the confidence of the community;
• Provides appropriate content restriction and enforcement for both physical and online content; and
• Enables timely decision-making on changes to the classification scheme.