‘Highly traumatic’: Game digs in on One Nation split
No regrets for Sarah Game over last year’s split from One Nation despite a dismal result in the state election – as other losing candidates speak out.
Sarah Game said the election campaign had been “highly traumatic” and she was resigned to failing to pick up any seats for the Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians party in the state election.
According to the most current results from the Electoral Commission of South Australia, Fair Go achieved 1573 votes in the Legislative Council compared to Labor’s 216,443 votes, One Nation’s 139,177 and the Liberals’ 100,569. In the House of Assembly, the party achieved 1752 first preference votes.
“Obviously, I’m not happy with the campaign because I’m not aware of any policy platforms that we really came out strong on and it would have been different if we’d actually told the people of South Australia a bit more clearly what we were going to do,” the party leader, who sensationally split from One Nation last year over differences with leader Pauline Hanson, said.
“I think that’s a real shame because I think we’ll end up with three One Nation members in the upper house – I don’t think they’re going to have very much power.
“I think what’s going to happen is that we’re going to end up with an upper house that’s dominated by Labor and very likely the Greens.”
Despite her party’s poor showing, Game, who is the first person in SA to have been elected to the state parliament for One Nation, had no regrets quitting the party, saying, “I wouldn’t feel proud to be a part of that party”.
“I tried to change that brand into something I would feel good about and ultimately, the reason I left is, I don’t feel good about being part of it and I don’t feel my kids, ultimately, feel proud of me being part of it, so I’m very glad to be out,” she said.
Game was not surprised by comments from Pauline Hanson that she was leaving One Nation members as landmines for the Malinauskas Labor government that could “explode” in her speech on Saturday night.
“That sort of highly extreme, inflammatory, divisive, aggressive language is typical of her style, and it’s not something that I enjoy” she said.
Game thought the late change of her party’s lead upper house candidate hurt the party, with Shannon Foote having taken over after the defection of football legend Chris McDermott.
“We just did not have enough time to promote the quality person that Shannon would be or the policies that Shannon would be willing to come out on,” she said.
You might like
However, she was adamant that there was no exodus of candidates from Fair Go, saying that 22 out of 24 candidates remained on the ballot paper.
“I took a big risk and I tried to grow the party quickly and I tried to do big things – that’s always a risky thing. In this case, that didn’t work.”
Asked if she will continue building Fair Go over the next four years, Game said that “this is going to be a test of my resilience”.
“It’s been a highly traumatic experience … I’m really proud of myself for having a really good go,” she said.
“My main objective over the next four years is to work out one, how can I be an effective member.
“I think whether the party can get back on its feet or not is going to depend on two things.
“One, ensuring that I get the right people around me who are really devoted and committed to the cause of the party and two, I need to be a lot more careful in that, it is politics and you do need contracts between the party and any running candidate.”
One Nation declined to comment.
Tammy Franks not confident of keeping seat
Tammy Franks thought it was “very unlikely” that either she or running mate independent and ecologist Faith Coleman would pick up an upper house seat.
Independent candidates achieved 7,346 votes, or 1.3 per cent of votes in the Legislative Council.
“I can’t see a pathway to being elected, but I’m really proud that Faith and I stood for progressive values on a pro-science, pro-choice, pro-kindness platform that gave people coming to fill their ballot an option to protest in a way that reflected those values,” she said.
Although she was concerned about the rise of One Nation, she thought that many of their voters were “simply fed up and sick of politics as usual”.
“They weren’t necessarily racist. Many of them were concerned about environmental issues and the algal bloom, and it will be up to their representatives in parliament to reflect that,” she said.
Franks quit the Greens last year and had been in state parliament since 2010, saying she thought issues such as the decriminalisation of sex work may not get a hearing in a parliament without independent voices such as hers.
She was most proud of helping create the Coorong Environmental Trust and ensuring cancer compensation for CFS firefighters while in parliament.
Stay informed, daily
Franks said it was the Liberals’ own fault in delivering such a low vote, with current counting showing it could be left with only four seats in the lower house and two in the upper house once preferences were distributed.
“I feel incredibly sorry for people like Ashton Hurn (the Liberal Leader) and Anna Finizio, who are wonderful, clever and considered women who have a party around them that is a shambles,” she said.
“But I have faith that Ashton, in the last 100 days, showed us her mettle. She had the measure of the premier in the debates and she will be an effective opposition leader given the support she deserves.”
Franks hoped to remain near politics to be “a force for positive change and progressive values”.
Waite now a safe Labor seat
Former legislative councillor and the Liberal Party’s big hope for Waite Frank Pangallo decisively lost to Labor’s Catherine Hutchesson this weekend in the once safe blue-ribbon seat.
Latest tallies from the ECSA showed that Pangallo had won 5,345 votes on a two-candidate preferred basis compared to Hutchesson’s 13,988.
Pangallo told InDaily he had nothing to add to his comments made on Saturday after conceding defeat to Hutchesson, having said she “is the model MP who has worked tirelessly for her community”.
“I like her qualities and work ethic, which can be a rarity in politics. If I wasn’t a Liberal, I would vote for her,” he said.
Tarzia honoured to have represented Hartley
On the other side of town, long-term Hartley MP and former Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia fell short of the votes needed to be re-elected, with the seat going to Labor’s Jenn Roberts.
Tarzia has won 45.2 per cent or 6,211 votes on a two-candidate preferred basis compared to Labor’s 54.8 per cent, totalling 7,540 votes.
In a statement to InDaily, Tarzia said it had been an “incredible honour” to serve as Hartley’s member over the past 12 years.
“For more than a decade, I’ve had the privilege of representing my community,” he said.
“I’m grateful to the people of Hartley for the trust they placed in me, and to many volunteers, community leaders and supporters who have walked this journey with me.”
Ashton Hurn will stay on
Fronting the media yesterday, SA Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said: “It’s safe to say that the results last night were really tough for our party”.
“There’ll be a lot of lessons that we need to learn as a team so that we can make sure that we drive forward into the future towards 2030, but one thing is very clear – that we won’t be taking a backwards step,” she said.
Despite its poor showing, Hurn was adamant that the SA Liberals would remain the state’s official opposition and that she would lead the party into the next election.
“We’ve got a government that, whilst maybe not reflected in the polls, they’ve become increasingly arrogant. They’ve left a litany of failures and we’ll keep them to account over the next four years,” she said.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
