SA AG to Step Down in 2014

Adelaide Now reports that South Australia Attorney General and game-hater Michael Atkinson has announced that he will leave Parliament in 2014, the time of the next election. Apparently the international outrage over Atkinson’s proposal to require – under penalty of a fine – that any Australian posting anything to a comment, blog, or forum be required to provide his or her true name and physical address prompted him to “fall on his sword,” as the paper put it. In a videotaped pre-resignation, Atkinson admits his mistake but is quick to attack those younglings who have the audacity to not sign their names to stuff when they say mean things. He did not discuss his secret contributions to anti-game advocacy groups or his failure to reveal the use of government money in funded studies to prove that games were evil.

Indeed, Atkinson did not mention the criticism he’s received regarding his position on videogames at all, instead preferring to say he was stepping down so he could watch his son’s soccer games. My Dad was able to attend my soccer games and do a job, but then, my Dad wasn’t trying to censor an entire communications mechanism.

UPDATE: It transpires that Atkinson will step down from Parliament in 2014. His resignation as South Australia’s Attorney General is effective immediately. Meanwhile, GameSpot reports that the anti-Atkinson Gamers4Croydon party received 3.6% of the vote.