Helen Haines was taken to hospital with critical injuries after an incident involving a vehicle outside her electorate office in Wangaratta. Victorian police said the woman known to be Haines was hurt on Murphy Street at about 3.35pm.
A man was arrested at the scene after a passerby stopped him when he exited the Toyota Landcruiser. Police said the driver is a 43-year-old Tarrawingee man and that he will be interviewed in relation to the incident.
Murphy Street in Wangaratta
Police said a knife was seized from inside the vehicle. Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives were en route as investigators examined whether the incident was intentional and whether the two parties knew each other.
That question matters because the legal and investigative path changes depending on motive. A collision investigation and a deliberate act are not handled the same way, and police have not tied the incident to any prior threat against Haines.
Anthony Albanese on motive
Anthony Albanese said he was not aware of any threats to Haines before the incident. He also said counter terror authorities were investigating the motive and that ASIO were engaged, with a counter–terrorism taskforce established after the incident.
“We don’t know what motivation is. So that is the work that’s being undertaken by the Victorian police together with the Australian Federal Police, but also ASIO are engaged, once we’ve established the counter–terrorism taskforce, that was established very quickly after this incident which was in the later hours of this afternoon,” he said.
Ben Carroll on the arrest
Ben Carroll said: “I am deeply appalled by this violent attack on Helen Haines. My thoughts - and the thoughts of all Victorians - are with Helen, her family, her friends, her colleagues and her community.” He also said an individual had been apprehended.
Police said the investigation remained ongoing. The immediate priority is the interview with the 43-year-old man and the work to establish whether the vehicle incident outside Haines’s office was deliberate.
