Ah, that is not how your initial comment came across. Though I guess you realise that now.

I honestly don’t recall ever encountering any bars on buying video games as a kid, or even knowing that ratings existed, though it could just be because my parents bought most of my games. I think you’re right that very few people in Australia care about ratings. To me, it’s clear that ratings are almost entirely arbitrary. It’s obvious that big developers get more leeway in how their products are rated than smaller developers anyway.