MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A car hit an Australian independent federal lawmaker Monday, seriously 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 constituency office mid-afternoon in the Victorian town of Wangaratta, police said.
Albanese said the National Counterterrorism Team, made up of police and intelligence agencies, was investigating.
“It was not an accident. It appears there was a deliberate act. We don’t know what the motivation was,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The 43-year-old driver was arrested on the spot by a passer-by. He will be questioned about the incident, police said.
“A knife was located by police and seized from inside the Toyota,” police said. “At this stage, police are investigating to determine whether this was an intentional act.”
Haines, who was first elected to Parliament in 2019, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, police said.
The episode has renewed security concerns for Australian lawmakers, in a country where politicians have historically been highly accessible to the public and typically go about their business without the presence of security officers. But public incitements against civil servants are increasing.
Police reported in 2025 that threats against parliamentarians had doubled in the past three years. Police data showed more than 1,000 such threats against politicians in the 2025-2026 financial year, Home Secretary Tony Burke said on Monday.
Albanese said it was “regrettable” that an increasingly polarized political climate had already led to security changes for Australian lawmakers.
“I think there has been a rise in temperature and there has been too much shouting, not enough speeches, not enough polite conversations and disagreements,” he said. There is “no doubt” that social media played a role, Albanese added.
Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said investigators were treating Haines’ injury as an “isolated incident”.
“We certainly have no intelligence that indicates there is any additional or continuing threat to any other person or the broader community,” Mason told reporters.
Albanese, along with other non-aligned political party leaders and lawmakers, hailed Haines as an admired and well-intentioned lawmaker with integrity.
His political career is unusual in Australia. A campaign by a grassroots community group ousted a top conservative lawmaker with candidate Catherine McGowan in 2013. McGowan retired in 2019, and Haines was elected with the support of the same community group. She was re-elected in 2022. Few politicians outside the major parties in the Australian Parliament win more than a single election.
In Britain, the killings of politicians have led to increased security. Labor lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by far-right extremist and conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
In July, former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe was found beaten to death. with a hammer at her house. A man has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offences.
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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
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