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Family First’s National Director Lyle Shelton described Game as “one of the strongest and most courageous advocates for families in any Australian parliament”.

South Australian MLC Sarah Game has joined Family First, becoming the revived party’s first sitting MP, as the SA parliament prepares to debate her bill to end late-term abortion.

Family First announced the move on Tuesday, with National Director Lyle Shelton welcoming Game’s decision as “a boost for the cause of family, faith, life and freedom”.

Shelton described his party’s newest member as “one of the strongest and most courageous advocates for families in any Australian parliament”.

Game won her eight-year Legislative Council seat in 2022 as One Nation’s first South Australian MLC. She later left to sit as an independent before founding her own party, Sarah Game Fair Go For Australians, which fell short of winning a seat at March’s state election after securing 0.3 per cent of the upper house vote.

She now becomes the first Family First member of the SA Parliament since its 2021 revival under former Labor ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon.

Game will lead the party’s upper house ticket at the 2030 state election.

She said her priorities were broad, with an immediate focus on her bill to protect unborn babies from late-term abortion. Parliament is expected to debate and vote on it Wednesday, with a large rally in support of the bill planned for 5.30pm outside Parliament House on North Terrace.

Game said joining Family First made sense in order to “consolidate and unite values-aligned minor parties”.

“Family First remains a viable and necessary minor party and I’m excited about joining forces and amplifying the voice of Australian families in Parliament,” she said.

Her decision was guided by “what I believe will make my children proud of me,” she told The Advertiser.

The Bill Before Parliament

Sarah Game’s Termination of Pregnancy (Restrictions on Terminations after 24 Weeks and 6 Days) Amendment Bill 2026 would restrict abortion from 25 weeks except where the mother’s life is at risk.

The abortions it seeks to ban typically involve the injection of potassium chloride into the unborn baby’s heart.

Campaigners note that 105 unborn babies over the age of 22 weeks’ gestation have died in late-term abortions in South Australia. Abortion up to birth has been legal in the state since 2022.

Seven pro-life groups are backing the legislation, including the Australian Christian Lobby, FamilyVoice and Family First.

In his email to supporters, Shelton called Game “a tireless champion of the rights of the unborn” and “an outspoken and effective advocate” for Family First’s values.

Game pursued similar restrictions in an earlier bill that did not pass. The one currently before the SA Parliament requires 11 upper house votes. Three members who opposed her previous bill have since left parliament, including Greens MLC Tammy Franks, SA Best’s Connie Bonaros and former Liberal Jing Lee. Labor’s Reggie Martin has also lost his floor vote after becoming upper house president.

After a strong performance at the recent state election, One Nation — a party that openly opposes late-term abortion — now seats three members in the upper chamber.

Sarah Game: A Wider Agenda

Shelton laid out Game’s priorities for the Legislative Council, with a platform that includes a Minister for Men, stronger parental rights against gender ideology in schools, and cost-of-living relief.

Game also wants biological males removed from women’s prisons, lower government debt, and criminal penalties when conduct such as a driving offence causes the death of an unborn baby.

She said she wanted to advocate for all families, “including single parent families,” and that childcare should never be “the primary place that a child is raised”.

Shelton said Game’s agenda would bring “real and meaningful relief” for South Australian families who are “under pressure like never before”.

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Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and sarahgame.com.au.