Election hopeful lawyers up as Game backs ‘pro-life’ father of eight
Chris McDermott has updated his Facebook site to remove his former party’s branding and lawyered up amid claims from Sarah Game that he was “misleading” voters.
Former Crows player and South Australian Hall of Fame footballer Chris McDermott has updated his social media pages to remove all branding from his former party – Sarah Game’s Fair Go for Australia Party, which he left last week.
The Facebook reboot happened about 24-hours ago, McDermott’s team said.
Meanwhile, Game posted her own statement and videos to social media, urging followers to vote below the line on the Upper House ballot paper for her candidate Shannon Foote and alleged McDermott was “misleading” people by using her party for votes.
McDermott disputed the idea that he was misleading voters, and threw the claim back at Game, saying “she’s done new posters with a new candidate, but put my image next to him, albeit a shadow, but it’s my image that she’s using, and she’s produced them since. So what’s good for the goose is good for the gander?”
McDermott told InDaily he had hired legal representation but would not comment further on the details of any legal action.
“I’ve had a charitable organisation for 30 years, and damage to me is potential damage to that organisation, and I will not stand for that,” McDermott said.
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Game said she was aware McDermott had hired a lawyer, but that the lawyer had not reached out to her. She said she had written to McDermott’s team and the Electoral Commission but that having a candidate leave a party after voting nominations closed was “uncharted territory”.
Game said McDermott’s leaving had negatively affected all her candidates because they had prioritised about $20,000 in party funds on promoting McDermott, including $12,000 on corflutes she claimed had not been returned to her. If McDermott is elected, the party will get the money back.
McDermott said he was not using the Fair Go branding or corfluetes, and his team had been instructed to return any corfluetes to Game. He claimed he had asked Game multiple times about the funds, but had not heard back.
It comes after McDermott spectacularly left the party last week because of “irreconcilable differences”. He followed former Fair Go candidates Jake Hall-Evans, and Henry Davis, both of whom had also left the party.
Now, Game is directing voters to vote below the line on the upper house ballot paper for her candidate Shannon Foote, which she admits is “really confusing” and hard to get the message out so late in the campaign.
“I can guarantee that he does hold the party values. He’s pro-life. He’s very supportive of all the Men’s Day activities that I’ve done,” Game said.
“Shannon is a father of eight, and he works over 60 hours a week. And when I call Shannon Foote, he answers the phone and we talk, and if he doesn’t, he calls me back that day.”
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Game told InDaily she was still committed to “winding back late term abortion” and that Foote was aligned with her.
She said she would support legislation to restrict abortion access and would introduce the legislation herself if others did not. Game introduced a late-term abortion bill to parliament’s upper house last year, which was defeated with eight votes in support of it and 11 against.
Her comments come after the Australia Institute released polling conducted by Redbridge on Wednesday that found 62 per cent of Australians supported access to abortion services. A further 25 per cent support access in limited circumstances, the polling showed.
When McDermott was asked if his position on abortion was the same as Game’s, McDermott said it was not.
“How can I be asked to take a position on something I haven’t read, I haven’t read all the documentation,” he said.
“I am personally absolutely pro-life, and through Little Heroes foundation, that would be bleeding obvious. I haven’t read the legislation, and so I need to do that if and when I’m elected.
“It’s not something I’m campaigning on.
“I’m certainly not anti-abortion. There’s reasonable and necessary cause, therefore, for that to take place. So I understand that that needs to be part of that discussion if and when it’s reasonably necessary, then there is room for that.”
Game started Fair Go in August 2025 after leaving the One Nation party in May 2025, and despite a rise in polling support for One Nation, Game said she did not regret leaving the party.
Game is not up for re-election until 2030 because upper house members of parliament serve eight-year terms.
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