Police on Tuesday charged a driver with intentionally causing serious injury to an Australian federal lawmaker who is a critical condition after being struck by a car. A police statement said Brendan Nugent, 43, was charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official. Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent politician, was in hospital in a critical but stable condition after being struck by a car outside her office in the city of Wangaratta in Victorian state on Monday, police said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised a barber who helped restrain the driver. Haines was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV. The incident shocked Australians as political violence is rare there and politicians have always been accessible to the public. Most lawmakers are not accompanied by security officers and go about their work and personal lives on their own. The suspect’s father, Rod Nugent, released a statement Tuesday describing Haines as a “deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community.” “Helen has been our friend for more than 20 years and what happened to her yesterday is devastating and unfathomable,” the father said. Haines’s family released a statement expressing thanks for the “swift assistance of bystanders” as well as health workers and police. Haines, who was first elected to Parliament in 2019 and had been reelected twice since, was initially taken to a hospital in Wangaratta, a city of 30,000 people. She was airlifted later on Monday to a hospital in the state capital, Melbourne, 236 kilometers away.
