Independent MP Helen Haines has lost both legs but remains in a stable condition, two days after an alleged targeted attack near her electorate office in north-east Victoria.
Haines, the federal MP for Indi, had been in a critical but stable condition after the incident in Wangaratta on Monday afternoon. Surgeons were trying to save her right leg on Tuesday, but both had to be amputated due to the seriousness of her injuries.
Her husband, Phil Haines, provided an update on his wife’s condition at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital late Wednesday.
He said his wife had survived “an horrendous incident” and faced a long road to recovery.
“The good news in all this is Helen is alive and she’s stable,” he said,
“That is the most important thing for our family. And I think when we reflect and talk about and think about Helen, the two most important parts of Helen for us as a family are her heart and her mind.”
“Her heart is huge. She is a very compassionate, caring, loving person. Incredibly supportive of all around her, her family, her community, anybody she comes across. And her mind. She has the sharpest intellect.”
Phil Haines described the 65-year-old as a fighter. The pair have been married for nearly 40 years and three children and two grandchildren.
“She is a determined person who will do her best with our support and love to recover, and that is what we hope for,” he said.
“We are grateful at this stage that both her heart and her mind are in good shape.”
He asked for donations to be made to charity Save the Children as a sign of support during Haines’ recovery.
Police allege Monday’s attack was targeted, and have charged Brendan Nugent with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the Commonwealth offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.
Nugent faced Wangaratta magistrates court earlier on Wednesday.
Phil Haines was joined by the governor-general Sam Mostyn during the update to the media.
Mostyn praised Haines’ work as a local representative, including her commitment to improving the standards of public discourse in Australia.
“Now this violent attack on a much loved and respected sitting member of our federal parliament must be a moment for us to pause and to choose to be better,” she said.
“We’ve got to hope that that beautiful heart, that beautiful mind will be strengthened every day by our support and our commitment to be more like Helen as part of this great democracy.
“I can’t wait to see her great heart and her great mind back in action exercising that great muscle of decency and teaching us how we can be better.”
Prime minister Anthony Albanese and politicians from across federal parliament have expressed shock and anger at the alleged attack on Haines.
The incident has sparked calls for changes to politicians’ safety, with security services including the Australian federal police and Asio briefing MPs on the current landscape on Wednesday.
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