{"id":938726,"date":"2026-10-24T02:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T02:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938726\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T02:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T02:00:19","slug":"helen-haines-now-serious-but-stable-in-hospital-following-alleged-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938726\/","title":{"rendered":"Helen Haines now serious but stable in hospital following alleged attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

The condition of injured MP Helen Haines has improved from critical to serious but stable after more than four days in hospital.<\/p>\n

Ms Haines suffered critical injuries on Monday when she was struck by a vehicle outside her electorate office.<\/p>\n

Police allege the incident was a deliberate attack by 43-year-old Tarrawingee man Brendan Nugent, who faces multiple charges.<\/p>\n

On Saturday morning, the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne said Ms Haines’s condition had improved and she was now stable.<\/p>\n

Ms Haines lost both legs as a result of the crash.<\/p>\n

\"Flowers<\/p>\n

Floral tributes have been left outside Ms Haines’s electorate office in Wangaratta by supporters. (ABC News: Dallas Freedman)<\/p>\n

It’s the first improvement to her condition since she was flown to hospital after being pinned between vehicles outside her office on Monday.<\/p>\n

The horrific incident led to Ms Haines’s left leg being amputated on Monday.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Phil Haines, then confirmed on Wednesday that her right leg had also been amputated due to the extent of her injuries.<\/p>\n

Mr Haines described his wife as a fighter and said he and loved ones were hoping she would recover from her injuries.<\/p>\n

“Her heart is huge \u2014 she is a very compassionate, caring, loving person, incredibly supportive of all around her,” he said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“And her mind \u2014 she has the sharpest intellect. She has always had the most intense desire to learn, to read, to synthesise and to understand what’s going on.<\/p>\n

“We are grateful and thankful that, at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.”<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Supporters lit candles in honour of Ms Haines in Wangaratta on Friday night. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Floral tributes continue to be added to a growing collection outside Ms Haines’s Wangaratta office.<\/p>\n

Colleagues of the popular MP say they’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness shown over the past week.<\/p>\n

Almost one million dollars has been donated to Save the Children Australia in her honour and last night candles were lit across the country in a show of support for the 65-year-old.<\/p>\n

Wangaratta barber Ricky Jefferies, who ran to assist Ms Haines in the aftermath of the incident<\/a>, said the update regarding her health would be welcomed in the community.<\/p>\n

“I take a lot of pleasure hearing the positive improvement in her condition,” Mr Jeffries said.<\/p>\n

“I know the whole community will get a lot of joy hearing that, even if it is just a little bit for now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The condition of injured MP Helen Haines has improved from critical to serious but stable after more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28222,25653,64,63,501761,24813,500570,44],"class_list":["post-938726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-accident","tag-attack","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brendan-nugent","tag-condition","tag-helen-haines","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938726","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=938726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}