Who is Sarah Game? Mystery surrounds Legislative Council One Nation candidate

Her name is Sarah Game, and she looks like winning the first seat for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party in SA’s parliament. So where – and who – is she?

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party is poised to win one of two remaining seats in the Legislative Council but nobody seems to know the winning candidate.

An individual called Sarah Game is listed on official voting papers as one of two people who stood for the party at the state election on March 19.

While counting on upper house preference votes was continuing on Monday morning, speculation was growing that Ms Game would take one of the remaining positions, with Labor expected to take the other.

However, attempts by The Advertiser to locate Ms Game for an interview were unsuccessful.

There were no contact details on the Electoral Commission of SA official form for Legislative Council candidates, no social media accounts in her name on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, no profile or details on the One Nation website and no previous media interviews or photographs.

One Nation SA leader Jennifer Game (left) with party leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: Supplied

Greens MLC Robert Simms said he also had been unable to find any information about Ms Game, such as her contact details, biography or policies.

Mr Simms, who was re-elected, said it was “curious” that a political candidate “doesn’t make this information readily available to electors before election day”.

“I tried googling Sarah Game but couldn’t find anything online,” he said.

Mr Simms said South Australian voters “should think very carefully about the threat One Nation poses at the coming federal election”.

“One Nation securing an upper house seat here in SA would be a very worrying development for our politics, particularly given their lead candidate (Ms Game) was not even seen on the campaign trail,” he said.

One Nation’s national headquarters in Queensland did not shed any light on the party’s rising SA star, with a spokesman saying any interviews or photographs would have to wait until the counting of votes was finished.

Asked why there was no profile or photographs on the party’s official website, he said the party’s resources were limited.

“We are running this campaign (in SA) on an absolute shoe string,” he said.

“We just don’t have the resources to give every candidate the full exposure they need.”

Telephone calls and text messages to One Nation’s self-described state leader, Jennifer Game, went unanswered.

One of the party’s Senate candidates at the forthcoming federal election, she unsuccessfully stood for the southern seat of Mawson in the state election against sitting Labor MP Leon Bignell.

In a short media statement issued late on Monday, Jennifer Game confirmed no comment would be made until counting was completed and it was certain Sarah Game had won the upper house seat.

“The people of South Australia and the SA Electoral Commission will determine the outcome

of the recent state election, not the media or One Nation,” she said.

“One Nation and Sarah Game will not comment on the progress of the count of votes for Legislative Council seats.”

Some commentators on social media are suggesting Sarah Game may be the daughter of Jennifer Game.

Both women have their addresses suppressed on the state electoral roll.

Sarah Game is understood to have lodged a nomination form for the Legislative Council only days before they closed on Feburary 24 which, like other One Nation candidates, stipulated her details were not to be released publicly.

While Ms Game’s background remains unknown, she is poised to become one of five cross benchers who could decide what legislation proposed by the new Labor government becomes law.

Under existing renumeration levels, Ms Game will be paid an annual minimum base salary of $169,162 plus an allowance of $2030 for being an independent.

Legislative Council politicians serve a term of eight years before they have to stand for re-election, with half of its 22 seats declared vacant each state election.

Premier Peter Malinauskas speaks at a media conference. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Asked at a media conference on Monday about the possibility of a One Nation member in the upper house, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the views of South Australians who voted for Ms Game “deserve to be heard respectfully”.

“I don’t share a lot of the political views of One Nation but having said that, I don’t believe in shouting people down because you don’t agree with them,” he said.

“That person will have been elected by the people of South Australia and their views deserve to be heard respectfully.”

However, Mr Malinauskas said “that doesn’t mean you have to agree with them”.

“Let’s hear what they say in parliament,” he said.

“If they have views I don’t agree with then I am going to call it out, but let’s do it in a respectful way.”