AUSTRALIAN MPS HONOUR HELEN HAINES AFTER ATTACK

Allegra Spender told Australia’s parliament on Monday that Helen Haines asked about her staff and expressed gratitude to those who helped her when she woke after an alleged attack. Spender said Haines’s husband, Phil Haines, had told her about those first concerns. “Your first concerns when you awoke were for your staff and gratitude to the first responders, nurses and bystanders,” Spender told Haines. The independent MP for Indi lost both legs and remains in a serious but stable condition. Phil Haines has said she faces a long recovery.

The alleged attack took place outside Haines’s electorate office in Wangaratta, Victoria, last Monday. She was reportedly pinned between a Toyota Land Cruiser and another car before being airlifted to a Melbourne hospital for emergency surgery. Police charged Brendan Nugent with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official. Nugent appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday and did not apply for bail or enter a plea. Officers said he could face further charges.

Australia’s federal parliament met on 26 October for the first time since the attack. MPs wore baby’s breath flowers and orange heart pins, while an orange cockatoo associated with Haines’s local campaign occupied her seat. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Haines “a fighter” during parliamentary tributes. He urged politicians and voters to address what he described as rising anger in public discussion. Spender called Haines a “force for change” in parliament.