Sarah Game stalls abortion bill vote
Sarah Game’s controversial abortion bill has been delayed – but the Fair Go for Australia pollie ruled out rumours it was because a different protest group had booked the Parliament House steps.
Member of the Legislative Council Sarah Game intends to bring her abortion bill to a conscience vote on November 12, rather than Wednesday this week as first promised.
Game vowed the Termination of Pregnancy (Restriction on Terminations After 22 Weeks and 6 Days) Amendment Bill would be voted on in time to go through the Lower House before parliament shut down for the year, but was flexible on the date.
She said this was to ensure everyone could participate, including Liberal MLC Laura Henderson who was expected to vote for the bill. Henderson was currently on maternity leave.
Tammy Franks MLC, a long-time critic of the anti-abortion legislation, said members were made aware the vote would not go ahead after 4pm on Monday.
“To my knowledge, all upper house members were ready to vote on the Game/Howe bill this week,” Franks told InDaily.
One such member was Liberal MLC Laura Henderson, who is on maternity leave, and had arranged a pairing with Labor MLC Reggie Martin.
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Henderson told InDaily she would still be on maternity leave on November 12, but that she supported Game’s bill.
“Irrespective of whether I am in the chamber voting or relying on a pair, my vote is still counted as supporting this legislation,” Henderson said.
Game said changing the timing of the vote “is not irregular, that’s just a beat up”.
“That’s not going to change the outcome for someone like Tammy, it’s not like she is suddenly thrown into a disarray because the vote is not on this week, she knows what her position is, as do a lot of other members,” Game said.
“For a few members, they’re still sitting on it; they do need, I think, a little bit more time and so it’ll be beneficial for them.”
When Game introduced the bill to parliament in September, anti-abortion supporters – led by one of the bill’s writers and activist Joanna Howe – rallied on the steps of parliament.
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InDaily understands the Parliament House steps were booked on November 12 and November 26 under Game’s name.
Game’s office confirmed that on November 12 a rally would coincide with the vote, and that Howe would organise the demonstration.
On October 15, the original earmarked date for the vote, Public Service Union members have booked the steps to rally for fair pay deals.
About 2000 public servants are expected to walk off the job for the protest, calling on the Premier for a better deal after wage negotiations broke down.
Though Game said being able to rally on the steps was not the reason for rescheduling the vote, having protest action was important for issues like the abortion bill.
“It’s not been the dominant factor here, as I said to you, but I think it’s absolutely a benefit,” Game said.
“I think it’s important for people to connect with their politicians and feel like they’re actually being represented.”
But Franks said parliamentary process “doesn’t seem to be the main game” – self-promotion that can translate into online followers, does.
“Perhaps building more donations, data harvesting, clicks, subscriptions and sign-ups might be the real goal here – not debating abortion healthcare in the chamber,” Franks said.
Game denied having access to any protest attendees’ data and the organisation of rallies and social media sign-ups in support of her bill was “totally separate to me”.
But she said social media was an important platform for advocating her policies.
“Social media is really important. I mean, it’s good because what you’re trying to do is get a message out to people like, what do you stand for,” Game said.
“If this activity and this vote and the demonstrations and so on, make it more widely known to the South Australian public, hey, this is where this group of people sit on abortion, and this is where these people sit on abortion, then I think that’s a really good outcome – because for a lot of people, that’s going to determine the way they vote.”
