An Australian Government officials viewing Pop culture, comics and anime characters in their office has been classified as a “psychological hazard” according to a Comcare government statementAgency.
The bizarre interface between official and waifu figures entered national consciousness last year. Some 20 figurines were reportedly on display in the office of Gerard Boyce, who remains Vice President of the Fair Work Commission, and the numbers had become the subject of debate at a Senate Estimates hearing.
Some members of the Fair Labor Commission questioned whether the characters would undermine confidence in the professionalism of the then commission, and the vice-president was forced to at least remove it one of the characters. It’s not exactly clear what was removed, but the The Sydney Morning Herald reported that some of the numbers included Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of the major Ghost in the shell, a character from Jared Leto’s Joker, along with Harley Quinn in fishnet stockings and Captain America. There are also This photo in a new story this week with two characters including a Vampirella Premium format Figure from Sideshow Collectibles.
A year after this excitement Comcare – a government agency that oversees work, health and safety for the Commonwealth – found that the characters “did not” violate Australian health and safety laws. but they “viewed the representation of the characters as a psychological danger”.
It is not outlined how exactly this was the case or which figures were specially marked, although the SMH has a great quote from last year from an attorney for the Vice President of the Fair Work Commission:
“[When have] Figures sold to children and adults at EB Games are considered unsuitable for the exhibition? Especially since these were displayed on a shelf in private chambers that were inaccessible to others without the deputy president [Mr Boyce’s] Permission “, Steve Knott, President of the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), he said SMH.
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For its part, Comcare has recommended that the Fair Work Commission staff review the “Unacceptable Conduct and Sexual Harassment” guidelines in Australia. I hear that Fair Work Ombudsman has a lot of good resources for this thing. However, suggestions of what to do with anime and waifu characters in the office were not listed on the Ombusdman website at the time of writing.
This story originally appeared on Kotaku Australia.
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