Timelines

The timelines below provide an overview of media censorship in Australia since 1960.

All titles have a corresponding Censorship Database entry unless they are followed by *.


Film Censorship Timeline

January 1960 to Present

Contains movies that had censorship issues in Australia since 1960.

Currently, it is most comprehensive in the period beginning in May 1970. It was then that the Film Censorship Board began to release information about the titles they had classified.

After 1 February 1984, hardcore pornographic titles can be found in the Adult Film Censorship Timeline.


Adult Film Censorship Timeline

February 1984 to Present

Contains hardcore pornographic movies that had censorship issues in Australia since 1 February 1984. Before this date, they can be found in the Film Censorship Timeline.

Currently, it includes titles that had censorship problems from 2000 until the present.

Titles from 1984 to 1999 will be included as they are added to the Adult Film Censorship Database.


Game Censorship Timeline

April 1994 to Present

Contains computer games and video games that had censorship issues in Australia since 11 April 1994. It was on this date that it became compulsory classification began.

Since March 2015, games have also been classified under the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) system. These can be viewed in our Game IARC Censorship Timeline.


Game IARC Censorship Timeline

March 2015 to Present

Contains games that received Refused Classification (RC) ratings for Australia using the automated International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) system.

Currently, it contains all RC decsions since the system was introduced.

RC ratings can be removed for various reasons, including when distributor makes a subsequent application and receives a lower classification. These have been recorded since 2019.


Publication Censorship Timeline

February 1984 to Present

Contains books, magazines and other printed matter that had censorship issues in Australia since February 1984. It was on this date that selected publications were required to be classified.

Currently, it includes titles that had censorship problems from 2006 until the present.

Titles from 1984 to 2005 will be included as they are added to the Publication Censorship Database.


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