Independent MP Helen Haines in critical condition after vehicle strike outside her Wangaratta office
Albanese calls it a deliberate act while police say the motive is unknown, knife seized from the car as counter-terrorism team joins the case
Images
Independent MP Helen Haines (Getty)
Getty
Haines is an Independent MP for the Indi division in Victoria (Getty)
Getty
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and MP Helen Haines (Reuters)
Reuters
Helen Haines, the 65-year-old independent MP for Indi, is in a critical condition after being struck by a white Toyota Land Cruiser outside her electoral office on Murphy Street in Wangaratta, northeast of Melbourne, at about 3.35pm on Monday. She was airlifted to hospital. A 43-year-old man from Tarrawingee was arrested at the scene by a passerby, and police seized a knife from inside the vehicle.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC's 7.30 programme: "This wasn't an accident. There was a deliberate act; it would appear." Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO are working the case together, and the Joint Counter Terrorism Team has been activated. The motive is not known. Police could not yet say whether the two were known to each other, and detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit — the unit that normally handles vehicle crashes — were en route. Every category of investigator has been deployed because no one yet knows which category the event belongs to.
Haines spent three decades in rural healthcare as a nurse, midwife and academic, and completed a doctoral thesis at Sweden's Uppsala University on childbirth. Elected in 2019, she was the first independent to succeed another independent in the same seat, taking over from Cathy McGowan, and was re-elected in 2022 and 2025. In parliament she championed climate policy and regional housing, and worked with the ruling Labour government to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Albanese called her "fiercely intelligent," "a thoroughly decent human being" who is "full of integrity and respected right across the parliament."
The episode has renewed safety concerns for Australian lawmakers, in a country where politicians have historically been highly accessible to the public. Haines was at her electoral office in a regional town on a Monday afternoon; the arrest at the scene was made by a passerby. Her family thanked "the swift assistance of bystanders and the dedicated health workers" and asked that their privacy be respected.
Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said police were treating the incident as isolated, and that there was no further threat to the public. The Joint Counter Terrorism Team has been activated. The motive, police said, is not known.