Different rules for different people

Should adults be able to buy adult rated games in Australia?

Currently Australia has no adult rating category for computer games. What this means in practice is that anything that would be rated adult is instead banned.

I think this is discriminatory. Adult movieogers are allowed to watch R18+ movies, adult drinkers are allowed to drink and adult smokers are allowed to smoke. Since when have Australians been happy to accept different ruels for different people?

One of the pillars of our legal system is that ruels should be consistent, and should apply equally to all people. Another is that the rights of the individual should only be restricted when failure to do so would either 1) harm the individual, other individuals, or the environment, or 2) impinge on the rights of other individuals.

How do these principals fit in with our current lack of R18+ category for computer games?

We currently accept that adults should be allowed to do some limited harm to themselves and other individuals: consumption of alcohol and smoking of cigarettes are detrimental to personal health, to an extent detrimental to the health of others, and also to an extent impinge on the rights of others (e.g., drunken public behaviour, loud music from pubs).

There is no convincing evidence that allowing adults to play adult rated games does them harm, or harms others, or impinges on the rights others to any large degree. There's certainly no evidence that playing vidoe games is more harmful to adults than drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco or watching R18+ movies.

I feel it's unjust to deny an R18+ category for games within Australia. What do you think, and why?