Australian politician loses leg in ramming; family friend charged in counterterror probe

Doctors have amputated the leg of an Australian lawmaker after a man rammed her with his car and then reversed to hit her a second time, local media and officials said on Tuesday, in an incident being investigated by anti-terrorism police.

Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent politician, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV on Monday outside her office in her electorate in the city of Wangaratta in Victoria state.

The 43-year-old driver, Brendan Nugent, from nearby Tarrawingee, was charged on Tuesday with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, according to Australian media.

Police believe the attack was targeted, although the motive has yet to be revealed. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has linked it to a climate of ugly, polarized political debate in the country.

“It’s clear that there was a deliberate act here. This wasn’t an accident, someone just skidding off the road,” Albanese told ABC News.

Early investigations suggested the car hit Haines as she was loading or unloading items from the trunk of her car, he said.

Australian media, citing unidentified sources, reported Haines had lost one leg as a result of her injuries and that doctors were working to save the other leg.

Nugent, according to ABC News, is a longtime campaigner for environmental causes who has also posted extensively about politics, particularly with regard to Australian policy on Israel, on social media. He and Haines follow each other on X, and in 2019, he replied to a post she published by describing her as a “politician who takes climate change seriously.”

Nugent’s father Rodney Nugent and his stepmother Christine Cunningham released a statement in support of Haines, whom they said has been their friend “for more than 20 years,” and pledged to assist with the police investigation in any way they can.

“Helen Haines is a deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community,” the pair said. “What happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable.”

Struck two times

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio that witnesses said the alleged attacker reversed the vehicle and struck Haines a second time before a bystander intervened.

Ricky Jefferies ran from his barber shop, restraining the attacker and removing a knife from him after initially believing the incident was a car accident, Australian media reported.

“I heard a loud bang with no brakes. It was crazy, I just ran out to the front to see what’s happening,” Jefferies told reporters outside his shop.

“I didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation initially, and once it became relevant I just did what I could and what others were already trying to do.”

Violent attacks on politicians are extremely rare in Australia, where federal lawmakers, state leaders and even prime ministers are regularly seen in supermarkets and coffee shops, attending community events and chatting with voters with minimal security.

Haines worked in nursing and midwifery and as an academic before being elected to parliament as an independent in 2019 in the seat of Indi. She retained the seat in 2022 and 2025.

Outside the hospital where Haines is being treated, Melbourne resident Shawn Hill said the attack showed that “the political climate is becoming more and more polarizing today.”

“No one deserves to be put at risk of anything, especially someone who is serving the people and trying to do what is best for the Australian community,” Hill told Reuters.

Albanese urged Australians to engage more respectfully with one another, expressing concern about growing division in the country. He also noted a “significant increase” in threats against politicians in recent years.

“We all have a responsibility to turn the temperature down,” Albanese said. “I really don’t want to see the character of Australia change.”

Lawmakers raise concerns of gender-based violence

With the motive of the attacker still unclear, and in light of his apparent personal connection to Haines, some politicians have suggested that the independent lawmaker was the victim of an act of deliberate gender-based violence.

“Fifty-six women in this country have been killed as a result of gender-based violence” in 2026, said Australian Labor MP Ed Husic, in remarks carried by local media. “We cannot have women targeted for violence as well, as much as this is a conversation about politics and the nature of politics in this country.”

Australia’s deputy minister for the prevention of family violence, Ged Kearney, also suggested that the attack against Haines was indicative of the treatment of women in public office.

“There is an added aspect being a woman I think that really heightens your vulnerability in some ways and the ways you go about your business,” she said.

While Nugent’s social media presence showed no outward signs of hostility toward Haines, he appeared to have frequently criticized the Australian government over various issues, including the environment, disability support, and its response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The most recent post on the account attributed to Nugent concerned reports that Italy was probing Defense Minister Israel Katz and other Israeli officials over the treatment of Gaza flotilla activists.

“This investigation also involves sexual abuse, including rape, during processing and detention by Israeli forces,” wrote Nugent. In fact, the probe concerns alleged torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage. Israel has denied all the allegations.

Nugent also posted a video from “Voice of Gaza” about growing food “in a genocide” and repeatedly issued fundraising calls for Gazans.

In May 2024, the account responded to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong writing: “You have not been clear on anything other than giving israel impunity to kill thousands of children.”

There was no immediately apparent link between Nugent’s views on Gaza and the attack against Haines.

In an undated statement on Haines’s website, she said she is “appalled by the ongoing loss of life in Gaza” and called for an immediate ceasefire and increased international pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while also condemning Hamas.