Helen Haines live updates: Independent MP critical after surgery to save second leg; alleged attacker to face court

Wangaratta remains in shock. The main street is quiet, aside from a large media throng outside Haines’ office. The front door is slowly being obscured by cards and flowers, as community members leave messages hoping for a quick recovery.

On the streets, locals reflect the mood. They’re a tight-knit community where nothing like this happens. The shock is palpable. For the quiet regional city, it’s hard to comprehend.

There has been no change to Helen Haines’s condition at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne. She “remains in a critical condition”, the hospital said Wednesday morning.

Haines has lost one leg and surgeons operated Tuesday in an effort to save her other leg.

“A further condition update will be shared late afternoon, when available,” the hospital said.

Tess Ikonomou

David Pocock says security risks have caused him to move house several times

The independent senator David Pocock has had to move house several times since being elected to federal parliament in ۲۰۲۲, over safety concerns.

The former Wallabies captain told the Canberra Times the growing security risk threatened his young family.

Security measures for parliamentarians and rising political violence are front and centre following the targeted attack against Helen Haines, which has left the Victorian MP with critical injuries.

Pocock will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday for the first time in his political career.

Politicians say more security would ‘let bad people win’

The alleged attack on Helen Haines is something long feared by politicians amid an increase in hostility towards those in public life, ranging from social media abuse to death threats.

But, Josh Butler reports, most don’t want more security that would “lock them off” from voters. “You can’t let bad people win,” said one.

Read his full report here:

The sister of murdered UK MP Jo Cox has said the attack on MP Dr Helen Haines could be a moment for Australia to “find common ground” and change the way politics is practised in this country.

Cox was killed in ۲۰۱۶, shot and stabbed by a far-right extremist outside a library as she prepared to meet with constituents.

Her sister, Kim Leadbeater, is now the MP for the electorate her late sister held.

“Maybe for Australia this is your moment to think about what your politics looks like and how we can bring people together [and] find common ground,” she told the ABC’s ۷:۳۰.

That was something my sister was brilliant at and I would imagine it’s something Helen is good at.

I am devastated for Helen and for her family, her friends, her colleagues, her staff, that I am probably one of the few people, I suppose, that can understand a little bit of what they’re going through.

Leadbeater said it was frustrating that the tenor and tone of UK politics had not changed in the decade since her sister’s death.

I find it really frustrating that we’re having the same conversation and every time something so horrific happens.

Leadbeater said while political debate should be robust, she said the deterioration of public debate towards coarseness and personal attacks was part of a broader societal trend.

Things don’t happen in a vacuum and horrendous attacks and incidents like this don’t happen in isolation.

They are part of a wider culture around politics and society [and] we all have a role to play in that.

Prayer vigil held in Wodonga for Haines

Parishioners gathered for a prayer vigil for Dr Helen Haines at St John’s Anglican Church in Wodonga evening on Tuesday evening. Members lit candles and prayed as a group for Haines’s recovery led by the Venerable Canon Scott Jessup, Archdeacon of the Hume, with some of those present visibly upset.

Among the group were those who knew Haines personally including Dr Lachlan McKeeman, who trained under her and was endorsed by the MP as an independent candidate in the upcoming Victorian state election.

Helen is a much-loved friend and mentor of mine, and we’ve been advocating for our health service locally. She’s the kind of person that would check in on doctors [to see] if they’re OK after doing a press conference about the cultural issues at the [Albury-Wodonga] hospital.

He said he still couldn’t find the words to describe what happened to his friend while she “was at work serving her community”.

Mayor of Wodonga, Michael Gobel, was also present at the vigil, saying Haines was someone he admired deeply.

I was gutted when the news came through … she’s a person of incredible integrity.

Independent Tracee Hutchison says she will not run in Victorian election

Tracee Hutchison will not run in Victoria’s state election in November, despite winning almost a quarter of first preferences at the byelection in May, citing rising violence towards women.

Speaking to AAP, Hutchison shared her distress for Helen Haines and also recalled her personal experience of “a sustained, organised harassment and bullying campaign”.

The verbal harassment I experienced, and that the women my team did, was unlike anything I had anticipated.

Hutchison said she reported threats and feeling unsafe to the Victorian Electoral Commission every day during pre-polling.

There is no framework for the officers to do anything other than come out to the polling booth and tell everyone to behave. They then go back inside and people kick off again.

Helen Haines’s alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the commonwealth offence of causing harm to a commonwealth public official.

He was held overnight to appear at Wangaratta magistrates court this morning at ۹.۳۰am, Victoria police confirmed in a statement, adding that it would be alleged the attack was targeted.

Read the full story here:

We’ll have all the developments as they happen.

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the attack on Helen Haines.

A man will appear at Wangaratta court at ۹.۳۰am this morning charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally cause serious injury and the commonwealth offence of causing harm to a commonwealth public official.

Before that, Victoria’s police chief Mike Bush and AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett will give a press conference in Melbourne at ۹am to give a briefing about the investigation.

We’ll have all the latest developments.