Independent MP Helen Haines remained in critical but stable condition in a Melbourne hospital on Wednesday after being struck by a Toyota LandCruiser outside her electorate office in Wangaratta two days earlier.
Police allege the incident was targeted. Monday and suffered critical lower-body injuries. She was flown to The Alfred hospital after initial treatment in Wangaratta, underwent emergency surgery and lost one leg; doctors were working to save the other.
Brendan Nugent, 43, of nearby Tarrawingee, was arrested shortly after the incident after members of the public restrained him. He has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, a federal offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He was due to appear in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Witness accounts relayed by government officials said the vehicle turned around and struck Haines twice. A local barber who helped detain the driver said the man had a knife, while police said there were no other known threats and treated the incident as isolated. Officers also searched a property in Tarrawingee.
Nugent’s father, Rod Nugent, and Rod’s partner, Christine Cunningham, said Haines had been their friend for more than 20 years and described the incident as devastating and unfathomable. Nugent had previously been involved with the Save Our Strathbogie Forest group, where its chair said he had participated in anti-logging campaigning before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The attack prompted vigils in Wangaratta and Wodonga and renewed concern about hostility directed at politicians. Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered British MP Jo Cox and now the member for Cox’s former constituency, urged Australians to use the moment to seek common ground. She said political disagreement should remain robust but argued that personal attacks and coarsening public debate form part of a wider social culture in which everyone has a role.
Leadbeater’s comments came as Australian politicians and former candidates described threats, harassment and concerns about security. Tracee Hutchison said she would not contest Victoria’s November state election after experiencing what she called an organised campaign of bullying and harassment, while parliamentarians have also warned that stronger security should not sever their access to voters. The immediate next steps are Nugent’s court appearance, a scheduled hospital update on Haines’s condition and the continuing police investigation into the circumstances and alleged motive.