Former One Nation leader backs Speirs in Black – despite running against him
Former SA One Nation leader Jennifer Game is throwing her support behind disgraced ex-Liberal leader David Speirs – despite standing against him in the seat of Black for her daughter’s Sarah Game’s Fair Go Party.
Former South Australian One Nation leader Jennifer Game, who is now Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians’ candidate in Black and the party’s registered officer, admitted she was unlikely to win the seat.
“I don’t think that I’m going to win – there’d have to be something catastrophic that happens to the other candidates,” she said.
“I want to introduce the party to the electorate, and I want to show people that there are alternative ways of looking at the future,” she said.
Game, who has a tax law and science degree, threw her support behind controversial former Liberal leader David Speirs, whom she has put second on her how-to-vote card.
She said he is “an outstanding local representative”, saying, “I believe in giving people a second chance”.
“He reached out to me, and we had a chat. He was a very effective and very good local member,” she said.
Game said her daughter’s Fair Go party’s philosophy of “fairness” appealed to her instead of her old One Nation team, saying she wants to ditch “race-based laws”.
“We think that loyalty to the country and hard work and contribution ought to be the main criteria for rewarding people in society and that it shouldn’t matter what the colour of your skin is or where you were born, your ethnicity or your religion or whatever,” she said.
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She did not hold back in criticising her former boss, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, questioning her attendance record in federal parliament.
“The more interesting thing is why her (Pauline Hanson’s) own attendance has been so very poor and why she is very rarely there on a Thursday?” Game said.
“I think that’s the worst outcome for any senator, and she used to leave regularly early on a Thursday, and one really needs to ask why that is the case.”
Game, who quit One Nation after not being selected as its lead upper house candidate at the upcoming state election, took offence to Hanson’s claims her daughter, Sarah, left over fears her mother “would stop looking after her children”.
“If I had enough money, I would have sued her for defamation,” she said.
“I’ve been looking after my grandchildren since before I met Pauline. My grandchildren are very important to me, and I love them dearly”.
Game also took aim at what she claimed was the undemocratic way One Nation runs, saying “it’s not the policies or the stated values of the party” she disagrees with “but the way it’s run from Queensland by unelected people, a very small group of people as well”.
“I mean, we saw that with the appointment of Cory Bernardi (One Nation’s lead upper house candidate) – he wasn’t even a member,” she said.
“So, members are never given an opportunity to be considered or apply for positions that are winnable – those decisions are always made in Queensland.”
Game said she disagreed with recent controversial comments by Hanson about Muslims.
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“As far as I’m concerned, if you are loyal to the country, that is, your first loyalty is to Australia, and you’re working and contributing to society, you’re keeping our laws, then why wouldn’t you be welcome here?” she said.
“Yes, we need to be careful about immigration, because we need to always make sure that immigration’s in the national interest, so that I would agree about, but stereotyping an entire group of people, ‘No, I wouldn’t support that’.
“I’ve had lovely neighbours who are Muslims, and they’ve been terrific, so no, I wouldn’t support her on that.”
Game did not want to comment further on high-profile upper house candidate Chris McDermott leaving Fair Go this week to stand as an independent, but said she was confident no other candidates would quit before the election.
Former Fair Go candidate Jake Hall-Evans is now running as an independent, and Henry Davis was disendorsed.
Asked what it is like working alongside her daughter, Sarah, Game said it “has its ups and downs”.
“At times, it’s just very exhausting because she’s a single parent, and so, juggling her commitments and making sure the children are given the proper priority, sometimes that’s a bit tiring,” she said.
“But there’s been a lot of joy out of doing this because we’ve got similar values.”
If elected, Game said her first priority would be to scrap local councils.
“I think I’ll be doing a favour to not only the residents of Black but elsewhere if we could simply get rid of councils,” she said.
“Councils have lost their way and are largely doing things that they shouldn’t be doing and not doing enough of what they should be doing.”
Game said that other priorities included addressing congestion in Black, improving the outcomes of education for boys, men’s health and encouraging the construction of prefabricated and modular homes.
One Nation declined to comment when asked about Jennifer Game’s assertions.
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