Taking a swipe at South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, who unsuccessfully sought "in a ham-fisted and unsuccessful way" to censor political bloggers earlier this year in the lead up to the state's March 20 election.
"Perhaps such proposals for winding back liberty are not surprising from a Labor Party that argues for an ever-expanding role for government in the affairs of our nation and our personal lives," he said in reference to filtering and censorship.
But advocates for an R18+ adult computer games category will be disappointed. Mr Hockey is the most senior Coalition parliamentarian to address the issue directly - and he expressed deep concerns about the linkages between violence in computer games and violence in society.
"I don't mean to suggest that there is no room for government intervention and regulation," Mr Hockey said. "There is probably a legitimate debate to be had about the controls (for example via the classification system) placed on extremely violent video games."
"What concerns me about these games is that they, at the most benign end, make us immune to violence or, worse still, encourage us to think of violence as a legitimate tool," he said.
"Fundamentally, the loss of respect for human life and dignity that these games encourage becomes a threat to the respect we have for individual liberty."
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