MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian federal lawmaker remained in critical condition Tuesday after undergoing surgery for injuries sustained when she was hit by a car in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said was an apparently deliberate attack.
Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent politician, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV outside her electoral district office midafternoon Monday in the city of Wangaratta in Victoria state, police said. The driver was arrested and remained in police custody.
Albanese said the national counterterrorism team was investigating, incorporating police and intelligence agencies.
“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.
Eyewitnesses said the suspect turned his vehicle to drive into Haines
The 43-year-old driver was arrested at the scene by a passerby and would be interviewed by investigators. He wasn't publicly identified and no charges had been announced on Tuesday morning.
A police statement said a knife had been found inside the suspect's vehicle. Officers were investigating whether it was an intentional act.
Albanese said eyewitnesses had reported the suspect passed Haines in his vehicle as she stood by the trunk of her parked car. The car then turned and came back before the man allegedly drove into the politician, the prime minister said.
“This wasn't something with a car just going off the road,” Albanese told Australian channel News24. “This is something that is very clear was aimed at causing harm to Helen Haines.”
Haines, who was first elected to the Parliament in 2019, was taken to a hospital with critical injuries, police said. Albanese said she had been airlifted on Monday from a facility in Wangaratta, a city of 30,000 people, to a hospital in the state capital Melbourne, 236 kilometers (147 miles) away.
The incident has provoked scrutiny about public ire towards politicians
The episode has renewed safety concerns for Australian lawmakers in a country where politicians have historically been highly accessible to the public and usually go about their business without security officers present. However, public incitement against officials is growing.
Police reported in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over the past three years. Official data showed more than 1,000 such threats against politicians in the 2025-2026 financial year.
Albanese said it was “unfortunate” that an increasingly polarized political climate had already led to security changes for Australia’s lawmakers.
“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. There was ‘no question’ that social media played a part, Albanese added.
Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said investigators considered Haines’ injury an “isolated incident.”
“We certainly do not have any intelligence that there is any further or any ongoing threat to any other person or the broader community,” Mason told reporters.
Haines is described as well-respected across the political spectrum
Albanese, along with other political party leaders and lawmakers, have praised Haines as an admired and well-intentioned legislator with integrity.
“Helen Haines is someone who was characterized by civil discourse and engaging constructively right across the Parliament,” the prime minister told News24.
Her political career is unusual in Australia. In her constituency, a grassroots community group campaign ousted a senior conservative lawmaker with their candidate, Catherine McGowan, in 2013. McGowan retired in 2019 and Haines was elected with the support of the same community group. She was reelected in 2022 and 2025. Few politicians outside the major parties in the Australian Parliament win more than a single election.
Around the world, political polarization has led security agencies to warn of growing threats to lawmakers. The United States has seen a rise in political violence over the past decade.
That includes the 2022 hammer assault on the husband of Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California; the 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally during his presidential campaign as well as another on the president at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April; and the assassinations in 2025 of a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in Utah.
In Britain, murders of politicians have also prompted bolstered security. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, while Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
In July, the former British politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe was found beaten to death with a hammer at her home. A man has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offenses.
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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.