{"id":933843,"date":"2026-10-19T14:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933843\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:48:15","slug":"everything-you-would-want-from-a-politician-who-is-helen-haines-the-mp-allegedly-attacked-in-victoria-helen-haines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933843\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everything you would want from a politician\u2019: who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria? | Helen Haines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Helen Haines<\/a>, the popular independent MP for Indi, was hit by a car on Monday in what prime minister Anthony Albanese described as an \u201cattack\u201d and a \u201cdeliberate act\u201d.<\/p>\n

The incident has sent shock waves through federal politics, with the bombshell of the apparent attack \u2013 of a type not seen in Australian public life \u2013 amplified by the fact it targeted Haines, a principled politician who is well respected by virtually all across the parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why Helen Haines is so loved and admired, because she\u2019s someone of integrity,\u201d Albanese told the ABC\u2019s 7.30.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s someone who treats everyone with respect, and she\u2019s someone who is a beacon of light for that community there in northern Victoria<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A strident voice for integrity and honesty in politics, and a key figure in the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc), Haines\u2019s advocacy for rural issues \u2013 particularly health \u2013 is well known in Canberra and nationally.<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese speaks to Helen Haines during debate of the gambling reform bill in August. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAP<\/p>\n

The member for the vast north-eastern Victorian electorate of Indi, taking in Wodonga, Wangaratta, and Benalla, Haines was first elected to federal parliament in 2019. A respected voice in rural health, she trained as a nurse and midwife, later becoming matron of a nursing hospital in Chiltern and later leading midwifery services at Wangaratta hospital. Haines holds a master\u2019s degree in public health and a PhD in medical science.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy background in nursing guides my work. As a nurse and a midwife, you\u2019re with people in their most joyous and difficult moments. It\u2019s taught me that life is precious, that everyone deserves dignity and respect, that good policy starts with listening, and \u2013 as a health researcher \u2013 that facts matter,\u201d Haines wrote on her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Haines became Indi MP after the retirement of Cathy McGowan, another popular local crossbencher who helped pioneer the community independent movement, with that electoral model helping inspiring the \u201cteal\u201d wave which won numerous inner-city Liberal-held seats.<\/p>\n

While Haines is not considered a \u201cteal\u201d MP in the same way as Zali Steggall, Allegra Spender or Monique Ryan, the community-powered independent model and the \u201cvoices of\u201d blueprint are common, and the crossbenchers often collaborate on key issues \u2013 from climate and gender equality to the issues Haines is best recognised for, integrity and anti-corruption.<\/p>\n

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As early as 2021, Haines proposed her own bill for a federal integrity commission<\/a>, helping lead a major push inside the parliament for a national anti-corruption body which did not then exist. Haines\u2019s bill was blocked from being debated by the Coalition government of the day, but her motion was seconded by then Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who crossed the floor to vote against her own party<\/a>. A famous photo of the pair walking out of the chamber together, Haines\u2019s arm around Archer\u2019s shoulder, helped crystallise the growing public keenness for a federal body to monitor corruption and integrity at the national level.<\/p>\n

Haines now serves as the deputy chair of the parliamentary committee on the Nacc.<\/p>\n

Helen Haines puts her arm around Bridget Archer after she crossed the floor to vote with the opposition and crossbenchers. Photograph: Mike Bowers\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

As late as this afternoon, in a statement released just an hour before the incident outside her electorate office, Haines welcomed the appointment of a new Nacc commissioner and deputy<\/a>, saying it was a needed \u201creset\u201d of the integrity body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed appointments are an opportunity to rebuild public confidence and ensure the Commission can do its job with independence, credibility and integrity \u2026 The task now is to ensure the NACC has the leadership, culture, and public trust it needs to investigate corruption effectively and uphold the highest standards of integrity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The breadth of the outpouring of shock, grief and devastation on all sides of the political aisle goes some way to illustrating the regard to which Haines is held: praise and kind words from Albanese; One Nation\u2019s Pauline Hanson; the opposition leader, Angus Taylor; Greens\u2019 leader, David Shoebridge; and ministers, backbenchers and her fellow members of the independent crossbench.<\/p>\n

Sam Birrell, a Nationals MP whose electorate of Nicholls borders Indi, said the incident \u201creally has sent some shock waves through all the MPs I\u2019ve spoken to \u2026 and the MPs\u2019 families, too\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelen Haines is not a divisive figure \u2026 she\u2019s not a controversial person. She\u2019s highly respected by me and everyone across the political aisle and in her electorate, I know that for a fact,\u201d Birrell told the ABC.<\/p>\n

Allegra Spender, a fellow community independent, called Haines \u201cthe best of us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelen is one of the most outstanding people in parliament. Whether you agree with her or you don\u2019t on issues, you would be proud to see how she approaches issues in the parliament; with compassion, with rigour, everything that you would want from a politician.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Helen Haines, the popular independent MP for Indi, was hit by a car on Monday in what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-933843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933843","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=933843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}