Australian MP Helen Haines Critically Injured After Car Strikes Her Outside Her Office
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the incident in Wangaratta was no accident, and counterterrorism investigators are on the case after a passerby helped arrest the driver.
MELBOURNE, Australia — A car struck independent federal lawmaker Helen Haines on Monday outside her electoral office in regional Victoria, critically injuring her in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said appeared to be a deliberate attack. The driver was arrested at the scene.
Haines, 65, was hit mid-afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser outside her office in the city of Wangaratta, police said. She was taken to a hospital with critical injuries. Haines was first elected to Parliament in 2019. Police said a 43-year-old man was detained by a passerby and then arrested, and that he would be interviewed. Police also said a knife was found inside the vehicle and seized.
"This wasn't an accident. There was a deliberate act, it would appear. We don't know what the motivation is," Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The national counterterrorism team, which brings together police and intelligence agencies, is investigating. Police said they were still working to establish whether the act was intentional.
The attack has revived concerns about the safety of Australian lawmakers. Politicians in Australia have traditionally been highly accessible to the public and usually go about their business without security officers, but public hostility toward officials has been rising. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over the previous three years. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Monday that police data showed more than 1,000 such threats against politicians in the 2025-2026 financial year.
Albanese said the political climate had already forced changes to security arrangements for lawmakers, and he linked part of the problem to the tone of public debate. "I think there has been a rise in temperature and there has been too much shouting, not enough discourse, not enough polite conversation and disagreement," he said. He added there was "no question" that social media played a part.
The Associated Press, whose report NPR carried, noted precedents abroad. In Britain, the murders of Labour lawmaker Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative lawmaker David Amess in 2021 led to stronger protection for politicians. The AP also reported that Ann Widdecombe, a former British politician and reality TV contestant, was found slain with a hammer at her home in July, and that a man has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offenses.
Police have not said what may have motivated the driver, and Haines' condition had not been updated beyond "critical" at the time of the reports. Haines sits in Parliament as an independent.
