Anthony Albanese will lead tributes to Helen Haines in Federal Parliament when it returns in Canberra on Monday as Australians dig deep to fundraise in honour of the Indi MP who has been left as a double leg amputee from an allegedly deliberate attack.
The 65-year-old Independent MP remained in a serious but stable condition on Sunday after multiple surgeries at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital following the alleged attack by Tarrawingee man Brendan Nugent, 43, on Monday afternoon.
Dr Haines had been collecting items from the boot of her politically-branded car parked in front of her Wangaratta electorate office when Mr Nugent allegedly twice rammed her with a Toyota LandCruiser before he was pulled from the drivers seat by bystanders.
The Prime Minister will lead well-wishes in the House of Representatives from 10am on Monday — a week on from the incident — followed by statements from members and senators from across the political spectrum.
It comes as a fundraiser set up in the Indi MP’s name had reached more than $1.1 million on Sunday, with hundreds of messages of support for her recovery and calls for responsibly leadership.
“More than $1 million has now been raised for Save the Children. We’re deeply moved and enormously grateful,” a spokesperson for the charity said.
“It’s a remarkable response, and a reflection of the enormous respect and affection Australians have for Helen.
“To every person who has contributed, thank you.
“Your generosity will make a real difference to children and families.”
Surgeons were trying to save her right leg but MP’s husband Phil Haines said on Wednesday both had to be amputated due to the seriousness of her injuries.
He added that “both her heart and her mind are in good shape”.
A nationwide candlelight vigil was held on Friday evening with the Rural City of Wangaratta council lighting its town beacon amber in support of Dr Haines.
Labor frontbencher Catherine King said on Sunday said parliamentarians were, for years, bracing for an attack, amid rising threats and abuse and called for people to be more conscious in the language they share online.
“You just don’t know what you’re triggering in somebody,” she warned on News24’s Sunday Agenda.
“We’ve seen more and more abuse coming through emails, coming through our phone systems.
“Often people feeling OK to say things to our faces on the street that they perhaps wouldn’t have said before.
“All of us, I think, have been alert and have been trying to look at how we do our jobs differently.
“But the very nature of what we do is – we talk to people, we’re interacting all the time, we’re out and about in the community.
“It’s really hard to protect yourself and your staff… from someone who takes a decision to do what this person is alleged to have done.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien agreed that the attack has prompted a moment of reflection across parliament.
He said told News24 that parliament “will across the board come together and focus on Helen, on her husband, on Phil, her husband, the family”.
“We will all start reflecting on what it is we can do differently as a Parliament, but also as individuals”.
“(It’s) a time for all of us to be pausing to look at how we operate, especially as politicians, and ask questions of ourselves: Is this appropriate in the current climate?”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett has acknowledged gaps in regional mental health care in an interview with ABC’s Insiders on Sunday but reiterated that investigators were continuing to probe the motive.
“There has been media reporting around his mental health, around some of the causes or issues that he has aligned himself with. That all remains part of the ongoing investigation,” she said.
“That does sometimes form part of what we are seeing in terms of motivation or how people are looking to express their views.”
When asked whether a lack of mental health services was making policing more difficult, the Australian Federal Police chief acknowledged it was a challenge facing her offices.
“There are a number of elements that add to that that do make our job harder, yes. I would say that the environment in general, it’s febrile, it’s complex,” she said.
