One Nation's South Australian leader Jennifer Game has revealed it was the party — not her — that decided to preference her daughter as its lead candidate in the state election.
Mystery surrounds Sarah Game, who appears likely to win a seat in South Australia's upper house, despite not appearing in One Nation's campaign material or even on the party's own website.
The ABC has tried to contact Sarah Game, to no avail, with little known about the registered veterinary surgeon, who has a very minimal online footprint.
Yesterday, her mother, Jennifer Game, would not comment on her daughter's likely election.
"One Nation and Sarah Game will not comment on the progress of the count of votes for Legislative Council seats," Ms Game said in a statement.
"In the event One Nation does win a Legislative Council seat, One Nation will be happy to talk to the media."
However, this evening Jennifer Game called into ABC Radio Adelaide's Drive program and told host Jules Schiller that she believes her daughter is "very well-prepared for the job".
"She's someone who's had a family … she's a veterinarian. She's done other things with her life, which I think is an advantage in that kind of role, that you've actually lived a life," she said.
"She knows what it's like to make a living, earn your own living, have children, deal with all of the issues that come up in people's lives."
When asked if winning a seat in the upper house had been a long-held dream of her daughter's, Ms Game said:
Ms Game said she was initially the lead candidate on the ticket.
"It became clear to us that there was going to be a very long period of time before the declaration would be made," she said.
"The party was faced with the situation that I might be a candidate in the state election and not be able to nominate for the federal, so therefore a choice had to be made.
"As a result of that, I moved off the ticket and she was below me and she moved up the ticket.
"So that's why we didn't see much of her during the campaign but she's always been on the executive for the state party, so right from the moment when we were registered on September 21."
Ms Game said her daughter would not be speaking to the media until all of the votes had been counted, which is not expected to be done until late April.
"The position is, we have decided to wait to see whether or not she's elected and then she'll be happy to talk to people," she said.
"Every single candidate stands for the policies of the party."
Greens MLC Robert Simms yesterday said he was "very disappointed" One Nation could be on track to secure a spot on the upper house crossbench.
"I don't want to see the kind of divisive and ugly politics we've seen from that party in other states polluting our politics here in South Australia," he said.
Ms Game said her daughter would not be "looking for trouble" if she is elected.
"Sarah's highly intelligent, she has a lovely manner with people and she's not going to be looking for trouble. She's wants to talk about the issues and making a difference for South Australians, making their lives better," she said.
