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World

Helen Haines loses leg after car attack as suspect Brendan Nugent named

Independent MP Helen Haines, 65, has lost a leg and remains in a critical condition after Monday's Toyota LandCruiser ramming outside her Wangaratta office; The Australian and The Age have named the 43-year-old man in custody as Brendan Nugent of Tarrawingee.

By Sarah Whitfield · · 1 min read

Portrait of Australian independent MP Helen Haines, smiling, wearing glasses and a navy blazer with an orange lapel pin, in front of electorate maps
Photo: Alison Newman (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons

Independent Australian MP Helen Haines has lost a leg following surgery after being rammed by a car outside her electorate office, in an attack Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called “deliberate”.

The 65-year-old independent member for Indi was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser on Monday while unloading her car outside her Wangaratta office in Victoria. Witnesses told the ABC they heard a bang and saw her pinned between two vehicles (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/attack-on-australian-mp-helen-haines-mp-loses-leg-after-surgery-man-in-custody-named/). She was airlifted to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital and underwent surgery overnight. The ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday that she had lost a leg, and sources confirmed the same to AAP (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/this-wasnt-an-accident-australian-mp-critical-after-being-hit-by-car-pamxnopc). She remains in a critical condition (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/attack-on-australian-mp-helen-haines-mp-loses-leg-after-surgery-man-in-custody-named/).

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said witnesses described the driver doing “a U-turn to get into the car park and to ram Helen against a vehicle, then to reverse and do it a second time” (https://britbrief.co.uk/crime/violence/helen-haines-attack-suspect-named-as-local-activist.html). A 43-year-old man from Tarrawingee was arrested at the scene. The Australian and The Age have named him as Brendan Nugent, and ABC sources say he is known to police (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/attack-on-australian-mp-helen-haines-mp-loses-leg-after-surgery-man-in-custody-named/).

A knife was seized from inside the Toyota, police said (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/attack-on-australian-mp-helen-haines-mp-loses-leg-after-surgery-man-in-custody-named/). Federal and state counter-terrorism police and ASIO are investigating; AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the incident appeared “isolated” with no known connected threats (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/10/20/deliberate-car-ramming-of-australian-mp-an-isolated-incident-police-say). Albanese said: “This wasn’t an accident. This was a deliberate act.” (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/attack-on-australian-mp-helen-haines-mp-loses-leg-after-surgery-man-in-custody-named/)

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