One Nation MLC Sarah Game’s staff turnover revealed as she denies office culture issues

Former staffers have raised claims of a “toxic” office as Sarah Game’s revolving door is laid bare – but she’s denied any culture issues.

One Nation MLC Sarah Game has had more than a dozen staff members leave since taking office two years ago – with some only working for a matter of weeks.

Some former employees told The Advertiser they felt like staff were pitted against each other in a “toxic” workplace, but Ms Game says the turnover is not unreasonable and has denied there are culture issues in her office.

It is understood Ms Game has had 13 staff through her office since the 2022 election, more than six times the number of full-time positions allocated to crossbench parliamentarians prior to a recent increase from two to three.

A number of former staffers said they were subject to stringent requests and long hours, claiming there were regular outbursts of “yelling and screaming” in the pressure-cooker environment.

One Nation MLC Sarah Game (left) with party leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: Supplied

One of those employees described Ms Game’s office as “a shambles” and described the environment as toxic, saying they felt like staffers were set up against each other.

Ms Game ardently denied ever raising her voice toward staff members and said that she had received no such feedback from current or former employees.

“I have absolutely not ever yelled at anyone. There are lots of avenues for staff to pursue any such complaints if people felt they had been treated badly,” she said.

Ms Game said she was “aware of times when some of (her) staff hadn’t always gotten along” but spent the large majority of her time in her own office, which is separate from her staffers.

“I take my responsibility to work for the people of South Australia seriously. I am given a small number of staff to support me to do my work,” she said.

“It is a really unusual work environment in that I am rarely in the office, (so) a challenge can be completely understanding the dynamics in the office. I have had staff not get along, but also very close relationships between staff.”

She acknowledged one former staffer had brought a complaint to Electoral Services but said it had been rejected, and she had never been found to have acted inappropriately toward any employees in the past two years.

Ms Game attributed the high staff turnover to staffing structure, saying she regularly employed people for shorter contracts to fulfil certain duties such as events management or social media.

She said all employees that had left recently had been because she had not renewed their contracts.

Ms Game has strongly denied any culture issues within her office. Picture: Keryn Stevens

“It’s a very dynamic environment and we’re just one office, we’re not a big party with a lot of support,” Ms Game said.

“I generally employ people on short term contracts to do the specific tasks I need. If the need does not continue then I won’t renew their contract.

“People who don’t do their hours, are lazy or cannot do what I need do not have their contracts renewed.

“It’s relevant if (the former staffers raising issue with the work environment) became unhappy before or after their contract was not renewed ... I have had really lovely people work for me who I am still on very good terms with.”

She said only two of the 13 staff that had left her office had left before their contracts had ended, both of whom resigned to move to roles with the Liberal Party.

Former staffer George Mamalis, who worked in Ms Game’s office for three months, said he had found her a “passionate and courageous” employer – but believed some might have taken issue with her “direct approach”.

“It’s a highly intense environment and Sarah tells it like it is, which some people don’t like,” he said.

Mr Mamalis said he had experienced issues with other parliamentary employees but had not raised these concerns with Ms Game.

“At the time it was fine, but it just got worse and worse … it got to the point where it was so toxic in there that it took a really big toll on me personally. I went to work every day filled with dread,” he said.

“In hindsight I probably should have told Sarah more, but I didn’t want to cause trouble.”

A former veterinarian and single mother of three, Ms Game – daughter of the One Nation’s state director Jennifer Game – came into politics in a surprise coup in the 2022 state election.

She was the first One Nation candidate elected to SA parliament.