Sarah Game

Sarah Game
Member of the South Australian Legislative Council
Assumed office
19 March 2022
Preceded byJohn Darley
Personal details
Political partyOne Nation
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Occupation

Sarah Game is an Australian politician. She has been a member of the South Australian Legislative Council since the 2022 state election, representing Pauline Hanson's One Nation.[1][2]

Before parliament

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Before her election in 2022, Game had been a veterinarian in a practice at South Brighton, a coastal suburb of Adelaide, since July 2021, using the name Sarah Wareing. She completed a Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 2006 at the University of Sydney in 2006 and lived in the United Kingdom for the next ten years, working as a biology teacher.[3][4] She was One Nation's first member of the South Australian parliament.[1] She described herself as a "hard-working single mum of three children".[5]

Personal life and views

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Game grew up in a "separated family" in Sydney. At the time of her election in 2022, she had three children aged 7, 6 and 4, and was raising them as a single parent.[6]

Game does not support banning of foreign language teaching in schools (which had been a One Nation policy before the election), and she does not hold to strict interpretations of complex personal issues relating to abortion and transgender issues. She has Jewish heritage and was confirmed Catholic, but does not regard herself as religious, and chose to use the affirmation rather than religious oath at her swearing in to office. She has a strong focus on providing the best available education to all students regardless of their background, drawn from her own experience.[6]

In her inaugural speech to state parliament she declared her support for "sustainable, cohesive immigration to Australia".[7] David Ettridge, a founding member of One Nation, responded by claiming that Game held "Greens values" that could prompt a split from the party, adding "this is not what One Nation voters voted for".[8]

In 2022, Game supported moves to Ban the Nazi Swastika.[9][10][11]

Game has expressed her opposition to legislation that would establish an "indigenous voice to parliament" in South Australia, saying it would divide South Australians based on race, and that One Nation wants "real tangible benefits for all disadvantaged Australians".[12]

After the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, in which over 64% of South Australians voted against the Voice, Game announced plans to introduce a bill to repeal the South Australian state based Voice with the First Nations Voice Act 2023 bill.[13]

Game's father Robert Game died by suicide on 2 February 2023. Following his death, Game voiced her support for increased access to mental health resources particularly in regional South Australia.[14]

On the evening of 16 October 2024, Sarah Game attempted to take advantage of Liberal MLC Michelle Lensink’s breast cancer diagnoses in order to pass amendments to the Termination of Pregnancy Act (2021) by promising to pair her vote with her. This would have allowed for Michelle to be absent from the Legislative Council while undergoing cancer treatment and it not affect the outcome of the vote. Sarah Game then voted anyway in an attempt to tip the outcome in her favour. [15]

Shortly after, Michelle Lensink wrote the following on X (formally Twitter): “I don’t understand what happened tonight, but as someone who thought they had a pair from parliament, I had One Nation’s Sarah Game lie to me on the phone that she would pair me on the termination laws. It shows how desperate (and un-Australian) some people are in this debate.” [15]

References

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  1. ^ a b "South Australia gets first One Nation MP with Sarah Game elected to Legislative Council". ABCNEWS. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Hon Sarah Leslie Game". Members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Dr Sarah Wareing". Brighton Veterinary Hospital. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022.
  4. ^ MacLennan, Leah; McClaren, Rory; Dayman, Isabel (28 March 2022). "One Nation tight-lipped on mystery candidate poised to win SA upper house seat". ABC News.
  5. ^ Richardson, Tom (27 April 2022). "A new Game in SA parliament as One Nation breaks through". InDaily. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b Richardson, Tom (12 May 2022). "GAME PLAN: One Nation's SA makeover". InDaily. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  7. ^ "New South Australian One Nation MP backs refugee intake and cultural diversity in maiden speech". ABC News. 18 May 2022.
  8. ^ Richardson, Tom (20 May 2022). "'This is not what One Nation supporters voted for': Party founder slams SA MP". InDaily. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  9. ^ "One Nation MP Sarah Game backs push for ban on public display of swastika in South Australia". ABC News. 15 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Nazi hate-symbol ban proposed for SA". Adelaide Now.
  11. ^ "One Nation's Sarah Game to lead inquiry as police investigate image of hooded neo-Nazi group doing salute outside Holocaust Museum". ABC News. 2 September 2022.
  12. ^ "Say No to the South Australian 'Voice'".
  13. ^ "This state had the second-highest No vote, so why is it introducing its own Voice?". SBS News. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  14. ^ "One Nation MP calls for boost to mental health resources following father's sudden death". ABC News. 3 February 2023.
  15. ^ a b "SA abortion amendment bill loses by one vote".

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