{"id":375855,"date":"2025-12-28T10:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T10:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375855\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T10:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T10:44:13","slug":"labor-figure-fights-for-life-after-alleged-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375855\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor figure fights for life after alleged assault"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a former Labor strategist, who helped guide his party to a landslide election win, is rallying around him as he fights for his life following an alleged assault.<\/p>\n

Tim Picton, who helped the party to a landslide election win, was found unconscious outside a licensed premises in Perth about 5.30am on Saturday after Western Australian police received reports of a disturbance.<\/p>\n

His family is by his side as he remains in Royal Perth Hospital in a critical condition with serious injuries following the incident.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old fell after being assaulted, striking his head on the pavement, police said, adding several bystanders rushed to his aid.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tim Picton’s family is rallying around him in the Royal Perth Hospital after an alleged assault. (Richard Wainwright\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“This incident is a stark reminder that split second acts of violence can have devastating, life-changing consequences,” WA Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Haime told reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“The community is absolutely tired of seeing this level of violence.”<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said police were only “a matter of metres away” and arrested a 20-year-old man from Lesmurdie.<\/p>\n

He has been charged with one count of grievous bodily harm and appeared before Perth Magistrates Court on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Mr Picton’s family thanked medical staff and police for their professionalism and support, as well as his friends and colleagues for their compassion during the “incredibly difficult time”.<\/p>\n

“As a family, we are focused entirely on being with him and supporting one another,” the family said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Tim is a much loved father, husband, brother and son, as well as a friend to so many across Australia.”<\/p>\n

The former political strategist played an instrumental role in guiding WA Labor to their landslide 2021 election victory, in which the opposition Liberal party was left with just two seats.<\/p>\n

He is also the brother of South Australian Health Minister Chris Picton.<\/p>\n

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said their thoughts were with Mr Picton and his family.<\/p>\n

“The whole Labor team are thinking of him and his family during this difficult time,” Mr Cook wrote on social media platform X.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to know, at these early stages, exactly what’s happened to Mr Picton’s brother, but he is unwell and in a serious condition,” Mr Malinauskas said.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Tim Picton is the brother of South Australian Health Minister Chris Picton. (David Mariuz\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“My thoughts are with Mr Picton and Chris, and his beautiful family.”<\/p>\n

Tim Picton worked as an advisor for Senator Don Farrell in the Gillard government, then in the office of former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews before directing WA Labor’s 2021 campaign.<\/p>\n

He has since taken up a role as strategy director for mining company Mineral Resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a former Labor strategist, who helped guide his party to a landslide election win, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[44036,64,63,44,57934,60733,202690,202417,58560,202692,202691],"class_list":["post-375855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alleged-assault","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-roger-cook","tag-royal-perth-hospital","tag-south-australian-health-minister-chris-picton","tag-tim-picton","tag-wa-labor","tag-western-australia-premier-roger-cook","tag-western-australian-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}