Helen Haines live updates: Helen Haines loses a leg and surgeons fight to save the other after alleged attack outside electorate office
Özet haber: Katy Gallagher condemns ‘devastating’ alleged attack Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, the federal finance minister said: The idea that [an] MP had been hurt outside their electorate office doing their work, [and] that it was Helen Haynes, was just horrific.
Katy Gallagher condemns ‘devastating’ alleged attack Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, the federal finance minister said: The idea that [an] MP had been hurt outside their electorate office doing their work, [and] that it was Helen Haynes, was just horrific.
Devastating, I think is the word I would use, and I think that’s being felt right across the political spectrum and across her electorate and across Australia. It’s hard to get your head around, that life can change like that in a moment, for Helen.
And to be critically injured and to be going through what she and her family are going through today as a consequence of her work, and her job standing up for her electorate, is just absolutely devastating.
Surgeons working to save Haines’ other leg 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.
Surgeons were on Tuesday fighting to save Haines’ other leg, as the 65-year-old remained in a critical condition. Read more:
The alleged attack on Helen Haines on Monday took place outside her Wangaratta electorate office. The incident happened about 3. 35pm and involved a four-wheel drive, which allegedly U-turned before striking Haines. The independent federal MP is in a critical but stable condition at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital and has lost one of her legs. A 43-year-old man has been taken to Wangaratta police station for questioning.
This map shows how the events allegedly unfolded.
‘Violence has no place,’ says human rights body The Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed shock and sadness at the attack on Helen Haines. In a post to social media, the commission said: Everyone should be safe at work and in life. Violence has no place in our society. Everyone should be treated with respect, irrespective of their political opinions, gender, faith, race or background.
Parliamentarians must be able to carry out their duties safely. This attack happened against a backdrop of increasing polarisation and threats against politicians. We must address intimidation, hatred, threats and violence that undermine our democracy and democratic institutions.
Zoe Daniel: ‘It was obvious … someone would get physically hurt’ The three-time ABC foreign correspondent and former independent member for Goldstein, has written a comment piece after the alleged attack. It was obvious to those of us who work in and around politics, that eventually, someone would get physically hurt.
The fact that it’s Helen Haines, arguably the best of all of us, not just as a politician but a person, is unbearable. Some of us community indies have T-shirts that say, “What would Helen do?” They were a gift from the member for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, a few years ago. And while it was a bit funny at the time, it’s not a joke.
