Australian politician has both legs amputated after being hit in car ramming attack

21 October 2026 at 11:02

Federal lawmaker Helen Haines 'alive and stable,' husband says; suspect makes first appearance in court; police yet to announce motive, believe it was a targeted attack

Australian politician has both legs amputated after being hit in car ramming attack

Australian politician loses leg in ramming; family friend charged in counterterror probe

The Times of Israel

20 October 2026 at 11:34

Father of suspect Brendan Nugent, 43, gives statement of support to Helen Haines; motive yet to be formally declared; lawmakers suggest gender-based violence to blame; suspect's anti-Israel posts surface online

Australian politician loses leg in ramming; family friend charged in counterterror probe

‘I don’t want to be known as a hero’: barber who rushed to help Helen Haines praised by PM

The Guardian - World news

By: Cait Kelly in Wangaratta

20 October 2026 at 00:39

Ricky Jefferies says he had just finished cutting hair when he grabbed and held the driver who allegedly deliberately struck the Indi MP

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Who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria?
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The Australian prime minister has hailed him a hero for rushing out of his shop to help independent MP Helen Haines after she was allegedly run down in a deliberate attack – but barber Ricky Jefferies says he had “no choice” but to intervene.

Standing on Tuesday morning outside his shop, which is right next to Haines’ electorate office in Wangaratta, Jefferies was almost shy about the whole thing.

Helen Haines was chatting with locals at a dog park on Monday morning. By the afternoon, she was fighting for her life

The Guardian - World news

By: Tom McIlroy

19 October 2026 at 22:14

Australia’s politicians have been facing increasing threats and abuse. It can no longer be dismissed as social media noise or harmless comment

Victorian independent MP Helen Haines was at the opening of a dog park in Mansfield on Monday, out and about in the sprawling northern Victorian electorate, talking to locals and moving freely.

Later in the afternoon, at 3.35pm, she was unpacking a car outside her electorate office when a man understood to be known to authorities struck her with his car. He allegedly completed a U-turn when he saw Haines.

Human rights commission says ‘violence has no place in our society’ after alleged attack – as it happened

The Guardian - World news

By: Petra Stock and Kat Wong

20 October 2026 at 07:30

This blog is now closed

‘It’s very clear that this was a deliberate act’, PM says

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Haines’ alleged attacker “did a U-turn in order to get back to where Helen Haines was” after passing her on the road.

It would appear that the driver of the vehicle that inflicted the damage to Helen Haines did a U-turn in order to get back to where Helen Haines was after passing where she was getting things from the boot or putting things into the boot of her car.

So it’s clear that there was a deliberate act here, this wasn’t an accident – someone, you know, just getting off the road here.

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