'Targeted' attack on much-loved MP leaves Australian town heartbroken

'Targeted' attack on much-loved MP leaves Australian town heartbroken

Wangaratta residents have expressed their shock at the alleged attack on local MP Helen Haines

Wangaratta has found itself in an unwanted spotlight this week. People in this rural Victorian town are accustomed to welcoming tourists heading to regional wineries, or music fans coming for its annual jazz and blues festival.

Instead, locals are answering a stream of questions about their MP - and explaining to outsiders what it all means for the town's nearly 30,000 residents.

They are plainly stunned by what police say was a targeted and deliberate attack on Helen Haines on Monday afternoon, when she was hit by a car just outside her office.

"People are simply dumbfounded and finding it very hard to fathom the scale of this tragedy," Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents King Charles, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The independent federal MP had both legs amputated after being flown to Melbourne by air ambulance. But the "two most important parts of Helen", her heart and her mind, were in "good shape", her husband Phil Haines said.

Locals tell the BBC that the MP is not a polarising figure, and nobody can make sense of why she was allegedly singled out.

"Everyone knows Helen," says Jane Hill, who runs a party supply shop a few hundred metres down the town's main street from where Haines was struck.

"She is a such a good person in our community. She'd go to everything - celebrations, funerals, she's one of those genuinely kind people - and so are her family."

Local man Brendan Nugent, whose father has been close friends with Haines for decades, faces at least three charges over the alleged attack, including intentionally causing harm, and appeared in court on Wednesday. Police say they are considering additional charges, including attempted murder.

Wangaratta Mayor Irene Grant says Helen Haines is a "cheerful" and "committed" MP

First elected to parliament in 2019, Haines is widely known for her long campaign to create a national anti-corruption commission.

She was driven by a series of major political scandals which, in her words, saw "public money spent for political gain", excessive spending on "shiny infrastructure projects" in marginal seats and decisions that favoured big donors over ordinary people.

The commission was eventually established in 2023 under Anthony Albanese's Labor government.

Haines has also helped secure funding for housing, rail upgrades and health infrastructure in her area, which she says has long been neglected by policies that favour cities.

On a spring afternoon in Wangaratta, nobody appeared to have a bad word to say about the former nurse and midwife who became a politician.

Local Mayor Irene Grant described her as "warm", "cheerful" and "committed", and highlighted her work on climate action and Indigenous rights.

In a police update on Wednesday, Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush said she had given "wonderful support" to local police when two officers were shot dead in the nearby town of Porepunkah last year.

People who rushed to Haines' aid remembered how she thanked them even while she was badly injured.

"It was incredible," Jacklyn Black told Nine Network's Today show. "We were having conversations, she was telling me about her grandkids."

"To be in that situation and be as calm as she could be in the moment, but also thankful to the aid that the community had given her... I could [not] speak any more highly of her in a moment like that," Cody Lepoidevin added.

"She just thanked everyone."

Bystanders Jacob Evans, Cody Lepoidevin and Jacklyn Black said Haines thanked them for rushing to help her

A large print-out of Helen Haines is stuck to the window of her office - anyone dropping off flowers for her gets a broad smile in return as they look up and walk away.

Across the road on Tuesday, a man waved an Australian flag. His T-shirt read: "Wangaratta - this is not us!!"

Many clearly feel the same in this friendly community, where people look out for one another.

Next door to Haines' office is RickyChops barbershop, owned by Ricky Jefferies. When he heard the commotion outside, he hurried to help, pinning down the suspect.

"I just leant over him and once he was on the ground and he was no longer a threat, I just stood with him, and I told him that he can't leave," he explained after the incident.

"I don't think I'm a hero. I think that I just was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way."

Some clearly see Ricky differently. By Tuesday afternoon, he too had received a bouquet of flowers tied to his shop's door, along with a small balloon bearing the words "thank you".

Floral tributes to Helen Haines have grown outside her office

Further down the road at the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, a vigil was held, with a couple of hundred people lining up to light a candle for Haines.

Some embraced the clergy, while others wore campaign T-shirts reading "Team Helen Haines".

Her husband Phil said he had received "thousands upon thousands" of messages of love and support.

"I can only say how much of a difference that makes to all of us," he said. "Helen's road to recovery will be long and difficult, but we know she is a fighter."

"Whether you vote for her or not, she seems to have the community at heart so that's all you can really ask for; a politician that represents your community," said Austin Longfield who lives in nearby Albury.

"It's just something that you wouldn't expect in our community," he added. "You see it in other countries and it's just something that I didn't comprehend could happen here."