SYDNEY, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that the car that struck an independent lawmaker outside her office had performed a U-turn before hitting her, describing the incident as clearly intentional.
Helen Haines underwent surgery overnight and remained in critical condition after she was struck by a car in Wangaratta, around three hours' drive northeast of Melbourne, on Monday.
"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 things from the trunk of her car, he said.
A 43-year-old man was arrested following the attack, with counter-terrorism authorities among the multiple agencies involved in the investigation. Police indicated the man was expected to be interviewed on Tuesday morning and stressed they were treating the incident as isolated.
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 removed the attacker from the car.
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.
While Albanese said it was too early to determine a motive, he 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," he said. "But this is a challenge for us as a nation to make sure that we retain that sense of identity, that sense of belonging, that sense of unity as a country that is so important for us."
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
