World

Australian MP Helen Haines loses leg in alleged deliberate attack

The independent member for Indi is in a critical condition in Melbourne after being struck outside her Wangaratta office. A 43-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 20 Oct 2026, 13:59Updated: 20 Oct 2026, 13:59

Helen Haines, independent MP for Indi, photographed in June 2022. File photo. Alison Newman / Wikimedia Commons

Helen Haines, the independent federal MP for Indi, has lost one leg and remains in a critical condition after a car struck her outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, in rural Victoria, on Monday afternoon. Surgeons were working to save her other leg.

The 65-year-old was retrieving items from the boot of her car shortly after 3.30pm local time when a Toyota LandCruiser hit her, according to accounts of the police investigation cited by Australian media. She was flown to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne and underwent emergency surgery overnight.

Victoria Police arrested a 43-year-old man, Brendan Nugent of Tarrawingee, at the scene. A bystander intervened to restrain him, reports said. Witnesses cited by local media said the driver made a U-turn before the collision and then reversed into Haines a second time. Police have not established a motive.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the evidence pointed to a deliberate act. "It's clear that there was a deliberate act here. This wasn't an accident," he told ABC News. He said the investigation was being led by Victoria Police with the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force.

Police are considering charges including causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, an offence that carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Authorities have described the incident as isolated and said no related threats were known.

Nugent's father, Rod Nugent, and Rod's partner, Christine Cunningham, said in a statement that Haines had been their friend for more than 20 years. "What happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable," they said, adding that the family would help police with their inquiries.

Haines, a former nurse, midwife and academic, entered parliament in 2019 and held Indi at the 2022 and 2025 elections. She has campaigned for government accountability and anti-corruption measures.

Albanese urged Australians to lower the temperature of political debate. "We all have a responsibility to turn the temperature down," he said. The Australian Federal Police recorded 51 reports of alleged criminal offences involving threats against parliamentarians and candidates during the last election campaign, according to its annual report.

Sources & further reading

Spotted an error? Read our corrections policy

Keep reading

NEXT STORY World

Princeton PhD graduate applies to 2,300 jobs and still cannot find work

Jack Weis, 30, finished a chemical engineering PhD in 2024. Two years and more than 2,300 applications later, he still has no permanent job, The Wall Street Journal reported.

ScrollBeat Desk20 Oct 2026, 15:27Open this article

Nassau Hall on the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. Jack Weis completed a PhD in chemical engineering at the university in 2024. Daderot, CC0 / Wikimedia Commons

Jack Weis has a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a summa cum laude degree from Rice University and research that the Nobel committee cited when it awarded the 2024 physics prize. He has also been out of permanent work for two years, after applying to more than 2,300 jobs.

Weis, 30, finished his PhD in 2024 and returned to his parents' home in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began with science roles at pharmaceutical companies and postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories, then widened his search to software engineering and other fields, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported his case.

He was turned down even for food preparation work at a company that sells frozen crab cakes. Calls to alumni from Princeton and Rice mostly produced advice to keep checking company job boards.

In January he found part-time work training an artificial intelligence system for $70 an hour, but the hours were irregular and eventually dried up. In mid-March he was told in a group chat that the contract had ended.

His parents, both doctors, said they were shocked. His mother, Holly Carvers, went through his applications looking for mistakes and found nothing obvious, and his father, John Weis, said he never imagined his son would struggle to find work.

Economists describe the US labour market as low-hiring and low-firing: companies are reluctant to recruit and existing staff are reluctant to move, leaving few openings for people trying to enter. Employers are also using AI tools to screen large numbers of applications, adding another filter for candidates.

Weis is preparing for law school admission tests in November and working on a plan to use AI-guided drones to remove invasive weeds. He said people who believe something has real value have to step forward and make that value real themselves.

NEXT STORY Politics

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman stops bus to greet Saidpur college students

On his way from Saidpur airport to Durga Puja pavilions in Rangpur, the prime minister halted in front of Saidpur Government Science College, posed for selfies and handed out footballs and cricket bats.

ScrollBeat Desk20 Oct 2026, 15:27Open this article

File photo: Prime Minister Tarique Rahman meets pupils during a visit to BIAM Laboratory School in New Eskaton, Dhaka, on 25 April 2026. Press Information Department, Government of Bangladesh

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman stopped his bus outside a government college in Saidpur on Tuesday morning to take selfies with students and give them sports equipment, as he travelled to Durga Puja pavilions in Rangpur.

The prime minister landed at Saidpur airport in Nilphamari at 9:50am on a military aircraft from Tejgaon in Dhaka and then set off by road for Rangpur. Students of Saidpur Government Science College were gathered in front of the campus as the bus passed.

Seeing them, he stopped and spent several minutes with the students, posing for photographs and handing over footballs, cricket bats and other gear, the college principal, Abul Kalam Azad, said.

Azad said the students were delighted by the unannounced visit. He said he used the moment to ask the prime minister for help with the college's facilities, including two student hostels and a hall, and that a written request was handed over.

The stop opened a day-long tour of puja venues across three divisions. After visiting the Radha Gobinda temple in Rangpur, the prime minister was due to fly to Rajshahi to tour a mandap and address a rally, then visit a pavilion at the JM Sen Hall in Chattogram before returning to Dhaka at night.

He has spent much of Durga Puja visiting temples and mandaps. At Dhakeshwari National Temple in Dhaka on Monday, he said every citizen has equal rights and that the state belongs to people of all faiths.