![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792421410_328_2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 19 Oct 202619 Oct 2026<\/p>\n
An Australian independent lawmaker Helen Haines is in critical condition after \u2060being struck by a car outside her office in Wangaratta, in what Prime Minister \u2060Anthony Albanese called an attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t an accident. There was a deliberate act,\u201d Albanese told national broadcaster ABC on Monday. \u201cAll of our thoughts are with Helen, her family, her friends, her team and her community at this extremely difficult time. We are praying for her full recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police said a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV struck Haines outside her office in Wangaratta, some 200km (124 miles) northwest of Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The 65-year-old \u201csuffered what has been described as critical injuries\u201d, Ashley Mason, Victoria police\u2019s acting superintendent, said, without identifying the victim in line with police custom in Australia.<\/p>\n
Mason added that civilians apprehended\u00a0a 43-year-old male driver and handed him over to police, who found a knife in his car.<\/p>\n
The attack comes after the federal police documented a steady rise in threats and abuse directed towards the nation\u2019s politicians in recent years. Politicians have historically been highly accessible to the public and usually go about their business without security.<\/p>\n
Albanese said on Monday that \u201cthe temperature has increased in recent times\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve expressed that concern to people in the media,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at anyone\u2019s social media feeds and look at the comments, people will say things that they would never say face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister said the alleged attacker\u2019s motive remained unknown, with Australia\u2019s counterterrorism squad activated.<\/p>\n
\u2018Thoroughly decent human being\u2019<\/p>\n
Albanese praised Haines, whom he described as \u201cincredibly hardworking\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is fiercely intelligent but, most importantly, she\u2019s just a thoroughly decent human being,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Her family issued a statement but said it would offer no further comment, asking that their privacy be respected by the public and the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis afternoon, our beloved Helen was involved in an incident outside her Wangaratta Electorate Office, and is receiving medical care,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank the swift assistance of bystanders and the dedicated health workers who assisted her, and police for their response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haines entered parliament in 2019 after working as a nurse and midwife, becoming known for stances such as supporting stronger climate action.<\/p>\n
She was widely praised for her efforts to increase transparency in politics and crack down on corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawmaker was struck by a car outside her office in what Prime Minister \u2060Anthony Albanese called a \u2018deliberate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[77,64,63,48,44],"class_list":["post-933845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crime","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933845","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=933845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}