An Australian federal lawmaker remained in critical condition Tuesday after surgery for injuries she suffered when a car hit her in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said appeared to be a deliberate attack. Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV outside her electoral office in the city of Wangaratta, in Victoria State, in the middle of Monday afternoon, police said. The driver was arrested and remains in custody.
Albanese said the national counterterrorism team, which draws on police and intelligence agencies, was investigating. There was a deliberate act, it would appear. We don’t know what the motivation is,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Members of the public detained the 43-year-old driver at the scene, and investigators will interview him. He has not been publicly identified, and no charges had been announced by Tuesday morning. Albanese said eyewitnesses reported that the man drove past Haines as she stood by the trunk of her parked car, then turned around and came back before allegedly driving into her.
Ricky Jefferies, a barber who ran out of his shop to help restrain the suspect, told reporters he searched the man’s pockets and took a knife from him. Police confirmed that a knife was found and said officers were investigating whether the attack was intentional. Haines, first elected to Parliament in 2019, was taken first to a hospital in Wangaratta, a city of 30,000 people.
Albanese said she was later airlifted to a hospital in the state capital, Melbourne, 236 kilometres away. The incident has renewed safety concerns for Australian lawmakers. Politicians in the country have historically been highly accessible to the public and usually go about their business without security officers present, but public incitement against officials is growing.
Police reported in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over the previous 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 polarised political climate had already led to security changes for lawmakers.
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