PM GOES ON NATIONAL TV TO CONFIRM THAT RAMMING AN MP TWICE WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT

Helen Haines, 65, the independent MP for Indi, was standing at the back of her car outside her Wangaratta electorate office on Monday afternoon, taking things out of the boot. Police say a white Toyota Land Cruiser came down Murphy Street about 3:35pm, turned around, and rammed her. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says witnesses saw the driver reverse and hit her a second time before a bystander hauled him out of the vehicle. Civilians held the man until police arrived, which is the only part of this you can feel good about. A 43-year-old from Tarrawingee was arrested at the scene and spent the night in custody. Police seized a knife from inside the Toyota. Haines was airlifted to The Alfred in Melbourne, had surgery for wounds to her lower body, and remains critical. The ABC reports she has lost a leg and doctors are fighting to save the other. Anthony Albanese got on the ABC and said it plainly: this was not an accident, and nobody knows the motive. Victoria Police are leading, with the AFP, ASIO and the Joint Counter Terrorism Team all in. Four agencies, one bloke in custody, zero answers. Police are treating it as isolated. Haines was a nurse and midwife before entering parliament in 2019, where she spent years nagging the major parties into building a national anti-corruption watchdog. Political violence is rare in Australia. Threats and harassment aimed at politicians are not, and the federal police numbers have been climbing all year.

Why you should give a shit: Australian MPs work out of shopfronts on main streets with a glass door and no bollards, and the entire security plan was hoping nobody ever made a U-turn.