John Lawrence Smart charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear but Perth lawyer expresses concern for mental health

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A man accused of making threats while armed with “improvised nunchucks” at a Western Australian MP’s electorate office could have been holding a musical instrument, not a weapon, a court has been told.

John Lawrence Smart appeared on Thursday in the WA magistrates court where his lawyer expressed concern for his mental health. He was not required to enter a plea.

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© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

Perth man charged with ‘being armed in a way that may cause fear’ – days after Helen Haines was allegedly attacked with 4WD outside her Victorian office

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A man has been charged after allegedly threatening staff and wielding nunchucks at the electoral office of the Western Australian local government minister, Hannah Beazley.

The Perth incident came days after the federal independent MP Helen Haines was hospitalised with severe injuries following an alleged attack outside her electorate office in Wangaratta in Victoria on Monday.

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© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Victoria Police allege that the incident was targeted, after a white Toyota Landcruiser struck Helen Haines outside her office on Monday.

Victoria Police allege that the incident was targeted, after a white Toyota Landcruiser struck Helen Haines outside her office on Monday.

Home and office safety a common concern in Australian federal police and Asio safety briefings with politicians following alleged attack on MP Helen Haines

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Security agencies will review safety precautions for MPs’ homes and offices after numerous federal politicians told police and Asio in safety briefings that they were worried about widening threats after the alleged attack on Helen Haines.

The Labor government and politicians across the parliament are still considering how they will respond when they return to Canberra next week, with ideas being floated including a new committee on MPs’ safety, greater resources for police, and motions of condolence for Haines, who lost both her legs after Monday’s incident. Renewed calls from the crossbench for reforms to question time and the tone of debate in parliament are unlikely to be taken up by the major parties.

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© Photograph: James Ross/EPA

© Photograph: James Ross/EPA

© Photograph: James Ross/EPA

Independent senator’s goals ‘much bigger’ than prime ministership, he reveals in first speech to National Press Club

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He’s six foot tall and full of muscle, but David Pocock’s real strength is often sounding like the most sensible, commonsense voice in the room.

At his first speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, he said he wasn’t launching a bid for prime minister – no matter how much some people might like the softly spoken senator to have more say in federal politics.

A 25% tax on gas exports, which he said could fund anything from boosting welfare to health reforms and aged care.

A 5% levy on datacentres to capture more benefits from the AI boom.

Transparency reforms to shine a light on lobbyists, secret meetings with politicians and vested interests.

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© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Haines is in stable condition. Surgeons tried to save her right leg but both have now been amputated due to injuries

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The independent MP Helen Haines has lost both legs but remains in a stable condition, two days after an alleged targeted attack near her electorate office in north-east Victoria.

Haines, the federal MP for Indi, had been in a critical but stable condition after she was struck by a car in Wangaratta on Monday afternoon. Surgeons were trying to save her right leg on Tuesday, but both legs had to be amputated due to the seriousness of her injuries.

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© Photograph: Jay Kogler/Reuters

© Photograph: Jay Kogler/Reuters

© Photograph: Jay Kogler/Reuters

AFP commissioner says MPs are generally concerned about growing volume of abuse and intimidation

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The head of the Australian federal police has condemned a “febrile” political environment that has seen one person charged every week over the alleged threatening of MPs, as Victoria announces new steps to protect politicians.

But the AFP and Victoria police insist they had no intelligence to suggest 43-year-old Brendan Nugent would go on to allegedly drive a Toyota LandCruiser into the independent MP Helen Haines in a targeted attack.

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

Independent MP was struck by a car on Monday and her alleged attacker appeared in court on Wednesday

• ‘Deeply appalled’: politicians condemn alleged attack after Helen Haines critically injured

• Helen Haines, the principled MP respected across parliament

Anthony Albanese has described the police interview on Tuesday with Brendan Nugent as “extensive” but that the motivation of the alleged “violent” attack against Helen Haines is still unknown.

Certainly, it’s a reminder that the world is a more dangerous and divided place than it was a generation ago.

But I think that Australians do want to see their politicians be able to go about their business, to be able to get something from the back of their car, for goodness sake.

My side, every side included. We all have to recognise that politics has got more aggressive.

The particular impact on women in politics … [They] have got a different form of vilification and aggression towards them as well.

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© Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

© Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

© Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Brendan Nugent, from nearby Tarrawingee, was charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

Victoria police arrested the 43-year-old Tarrawingee man on Monday afternoon after the incident in Wangaratta

• Who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria?

• Brendan Nugent’s family say Haines has been their friend for more than 20 years

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Helen Haines’ alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally cause serious injury and the commonwealth offence of causing harm to a commonwealth public official.

He will be held overnight to appear at Wangaratta magistrates court on Wednesday, Victoria police confirmed in a statement, adding that it would be alleged the attack was targeted.

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© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

Father of 43-year-old Tarrawingee man who allegedly attacked the independent MP says incident is ‘devastating and unfathomable’

• Who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria?

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The father of a 43-year-old man accused of allegedly attacking Helen Haines has pledged to work with police and described the incident as “shocking and horrific”.

The independent MP remained in a critical condition on Tuesday after being airlifted from Wangaratta in northern Victoria to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital for emergency surgery on Monday night. She has lost one leg, with surgeons working to save the other.

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

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.

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© Photograph: Lauren Powell

© Photograph: Lauren Powell

© Photograph: Lauren Powell

Independent MP is in critical yet stable condition after man allegedly did U-turn to strike her twice with his car

• Brendan Nugent’s family say Helen Haines has been their friend for more than 20 years

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

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The man accused of attacking Helen Haines allegedly made a U-turn before ramming the independent MP twice in an alleged targeted attack near her electorate office, causing her to lose one of her legs.

The member for Indi was airlifted from Wangaratta in northern Victoria to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital for emergency surgery on Monday night.

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© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

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

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• Politicians condemn alleged attack after independent MP Helen Haines critically injured

• Who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria?

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.

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© Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images

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• ‘Deeply appalled’: politicians condemn alleged attack after Helen Haines critically injured

• Helen Haines, the principled MP respected across parliament

‘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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© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

SUV investe la parlamentare Helen Haines in Victoria, il premier Albanese: “Un attacco mirato”

La parlamentare federale indipendente Helen Haines è rimasta ferita in un incidente stradale davanti al suo ufficio nello stato di Victoria. Il premier Anthony Albanese parla di “un attacco mirato”, secondo quanto riferito dai giornali locali. Un SUV ha travolto Haines, provocandole gravi lesioni alla gamba.

Il giornalista di Melbourne Edward Godfrey ha spiegato che il dipendente di un salone da barba lì vicino ha raccontato al telefono che alcuni passanti avevano bloccato il guidatore del fuoristrada subito dopo l’impatto, scoprendo che l’uomo aveva un coltello a serramanico in tasca.

I familiari della donna confermano che l’episodio è avvenuto all’esterno della sua sede elettorale a Wangaratta, sempre nella regione di Victoria. La deputata, di 65 anni, è stata investita da una Toyota Landcruiser bianca verso le 15:35 ora locale.

Le forze dell’ordine hanno fatto sapere di essere al lavoro per capire se “si sia trattato di un atto intenzionale”, pur precisando di escludere una “minaccia in corso per la comunità”. Dal canto suo, Albanese ribadisce che “non si è trattato di un incidente” e che “sembra esserci stato un atto deliberato”, aggiungendo che le indagini vedono già il coinvolgimento della polizia antiterrorismo.

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L'articolo Australia, la deputata Helen Haines travolta da un suv davanti al suo ufficio: è grave proviene da Affaritaliani.it.

Helen Haines, 65, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV outside her electoral district office mid afternoon in the city of Wangaratta in Victoria state, a police said.

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• ‘Deeply appalled’: politicians condemn alleged attack after Helen Haines critically injured

• Helen Haines, the principled MP respected across parliament

• What we know so far

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‘No ongoing threat to community’: Victoria police

Mason tells journalists there is “nothing to indicate at this stage” that the two parties are known to each other, but police are still investigating.

I can provide some assurance to the community that we certainly do not have any intelligence that there is any further or ongoing threat to any other person or the broader community. We are treating this as an isolated incident at this point in time.

We’ve still got a lot to work through here. As you can imagine, it’s been quite dynamic this afternoon. We’ve got quite an extensive crime scene.

We have investigators present and they’ll continue to work through and try and collect all available evidence to ascertain exactly what has occurred and how it has occurred. We’ve got the Major Collision Investigation Unit who are currently en route from Melbourne.

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© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

© Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Anthony Albanese says his thoughts are with Indi MP after arrest of driver in Wangaratta

• Who is Helen Haines, the MP allegedly attacked in Victoria?

• What we know so far

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The independent MP Helen Haines has been critically injured in an alleged attack involving a vehicle outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, in regional Victoria.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed on Monday night that a man was in custody after the alleged attack on Haines that was now being investigated by the Australian federal police (AFP), Asio and the joint counter-terror taskforce.

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© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images