{"id":641837,"date":"2026-10-26T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641837\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T14:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T14:00:14","slug":"helen-haines-waking-words-were-of-concern-for-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641837\/","title":{"rendered":"Helen Haines’ waking words were of concern for others"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first words of injured MP Helen Haines after being woken by her doctors were of gratitude and concern for others.<\/p>\n

Tributes are flowing in Canberra for Haines who was struck repeatedly by a four-wheel drive in what was an allegedly deliberate attack outside her office in Wangaratta, northern Victoria, on October 19.<\/p>\n

The independent member for Indi had both her legs amputated<\/a> and is in a stable condition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Independent MP Allegra Spender said Haines’ first words upon waking, as relayed to her husband, Phil Haines, was concern for her staff, community, bystanders, first responders, and medical personnel.<\/p>\n

“That exactly speaks to the character of who you are,” Spender said.<\/p>\n

Vigil held for Helen Haines as she remains critically injured in a Melbourne hospital. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins echoed this, saying it was “not a surprise to any of us who know her”.<\/p>\n

“After everything that she has been through, she was thinking of others,” Collins said.<\/p>\n

Haines has been described as the “matriarch of the crossbench” by her friends and colleagues, some of whom were emotional as tributes flowed in parliament on Monday.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the tributes to Haines.<\/p>\n

Phil Haines sat resolute in the gallery, looking at the ceiling teary-eyed when his wife’s good qualities were spoken of.<\/p>\n

“The shock from what happened last Monday is like a stone in our hearts,” Albanese said, expressing his love, and the love of the nation, was with Haines, her husband, and her family.<\/p>\n

“It is hard to think of anyone in this place with a more irrepressible twinkle in the eye, a twinkle that more than hints at a real inner strength.”<\/p>\n

\"Independent<\/p>\n

Independent Member for Indi Helen Haines (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Orange heart pins, representing the colour Haines uses for her campaigning, held the white flowers in place. Independent MPs embraced as they walked in.<\/p>\n

The silhouette of a cockatoo, cut from orange card, was placed on Haines’ chair by good friend and colleague Zali Stegall.<\/p>\n

Albanese also paid tribute to the bystanders, witnesses, and medical staff who assisted Haines<\/a> immediately after the alleged attack.<\/p>\n

“We are also uplifted in the knowledge that on that terrible afternoon, we saw examples of the best of the Australian character,” he said.<\/p>\n

A “rising tide of rage” was distorting public discourse, Albanese said, with the normalisation of “the language of grievance and violence<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Tarrawingee man Brendan Nugent, 43, faces charges after allegedly striking the federal independent MP with his car. (Source: Nine)<\/p>\n

Crossbenchers Steggall and Monique Ryan became emotional when speaking about their friend.<\/p>\n

”You’re the matriarch of the crossbench<\/a>, always the voice for respectful political debate,” Steggall said, praising Phil Haines’ ”calm resolve and love” for his wife as a ”balm” for the nation.<\/p>\n

Ryan described the Indi MP as ”a woman of luminous generosity and kindness” who could put anyone at ease.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said it would be a ”resounding moment” for Australia’s democracy should Haines resume her seat in parliament.<\/p>\n

”What we must do is call out and confront the actual sources of intolerance, of intimidation, of political violence in our country.”<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Independent Member for Indi Dr Helen Haines speaks in the House of Representatives in Parliament House. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

House of Representatives speaker Milton Dick said Haines treated everyone with respect, ”regardless of title or position”.<\/p>\n

“I could always count on Helen when I had a particularly difficult day, or if I needed a bit of extra encouragement,” he said.<\/p>\n

Above and to the sides of the chamber, dozens of senators, who had suspended government inquiries to attend, watched on.<\/p>\n

Aside from Question Time, Monday’s sitting will be devoted to tributes to the Indi MP.<\/p>\n

Parliament opened on Monday with increased security in public areas, which the Australian Federal Police and government are continuing to work on.<\/p>\n

A fundraiser for charity Save the Children, set up on Wednesday by Haines’ family in lieu of flowers, had surpassed AU$1.2 million (NZ$1.4 million) in donations by Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first words of injured MP Helen Haines after being woken by her doctors were of gratitude and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-641837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}