MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A car hit an Australian federal independent lawmaker on Monday, critically injuring her in an apparently deliberate attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. The driver was arrested.
Helen Haines, 65, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV outside her electoral district office midafternoon in the city of Wangaratta in Victoria state, police said.
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Albanese said the national counterterrorism team, incorporating police and intelligence agencies, was investigating.
“This wasn’t an accident. There was a deliberate act, it would appear. We don’t know what the motivation is,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The 43-year-old driver was arrested at the scene by a passerby. He will be interviewed in relation to the incident, police said.
“A knife was located by police and seized from inside the Toyota,” police said. “At this stage, police are investigating as to whether this was an intentional act."
Haines, who was first elected to the Parliament in 2019, was taken to a hospital with critical injuries, police said.
The episode has renewed safety concerns for Australian lawmakers, in a country where politicians 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.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled over the past three years. Police data showed more than 1,000 such threats against politicians in the 2025-2026 financial year, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Monday.
Albanese told the ABC it was “unfortunate” that an increasingly polarized political climate had already led to security changes for Australia’s lawmakers.
“I think there has been a rise in temperature and there has been too much shouting, not enough discourse, not enough polite conversation and disagreement,” he said Monday. There was “no question" that social media played a part, Albanese added.
In Britain, murders of politicians have prompted bolstered security. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
In July, the former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe was found beaten to death with a hammer at her home. A man has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offenses.
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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
