Australian lawmaker Helen Haines’ first concern after waking up in hospital following a car-ramming attack was for the safety of her staff, a fellow MP has told parliament.
Independent MP Allegra Spender said on Monday that Ms Haines, who had both legs amputated after the attack, had expressed gratitude to the first responders, nurses, and bystanders who helped her.
Ms Haines remains in a Melbourne hospital in a serious but stable condition on Monday.
Parliament resumed for the first time since the alleged attack, with security screening measures tightened at parliament house in Canberra.
Ms Haines was standing at the rear of her car outside her electorate office in Wangaratta on 19 October when a white Toyota LandCruiser struck her, pinning her against her vehicle.
A 43-year-old man has been charged with offences including intentionally causing serious injury. Police have not revealed a motive.
“Phil told us about your first words when you woke up after the attack,” Ms Spender said, according to ABC News. “Your first concerns when you awoke were for your staff and gratitude to the first responders, nurses and bystanders.”
Ms Spender said the account reflected Haines’s character, saying: “People have spoken about your empathy and grace, and they deserve recognition. But I think it paints a sort of picture of you as a sort of benign force wandering through the parliament. What I will say is that you are also a force for change.”
Agriculture minister Julie Collins said Haines’s concern for others was characteristic of the independent MP. “After everything that she has been through, she was thinking of others,” Ms Collins said.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese was among several lawmakers to pay tribute to Ms Haines, a respected independent.
He proposed a motion expressing parliament’s wish for her recovery and support for her family. Her husband Phil Haines looked on from parliament’s public gallery.
“While the investigations go on, we must not rush to conclusions. But nor can we shrug off the very real rise in anger that distorts and corrodes our public discourse,” Mr Albanese told parliament.
“Enabled by the anonymity and speed afforded by social media, we are seeing rage and aggression increasing, not just in politics, but toward workers in hospitality, in retail, in schools and in hospitals, toward police, paramedics and other officials,” Mr Albanese added.
Mr Albanese described a “normalisation of the language of grievance and violence”.
“We must not conflate the robustness of Australian democracy with this rising tide of rage,” Mr Albanese said. Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett told Australian Broadcasting Corp on Sunday threats against lawmakers were evenly spread between male and female politicians. But threats against women were more “personalised.”
Ms Barrett said there was a “direct correlation” between the language political rivals use against each other and threats and abuse directed at lawmakers from the public.
Critics of Australian politics often complain that language that lawmakers sometimes use against each other would not be tolerated in any other workplace in the country.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor told parliament he disagreed with those who saw a “casual connection between robust parliamentary debate and political violence.”
“We never allow that vigorous parliamentary debate to spill over into violence,” Mr Taylor said.
Speaker Milton Dick noted that some lawmakers had suggested colleagues sign a so-called civility pledge in response to the alleged attack on Haines.
“This is a personal decision and I encourage all Members (of Parliament) to continue these discussions to decide the best way for themselves” to respond, Mr Dick told parliament.
Two months ago, Ms Haines became the first Australian lawmaker to make such a pledge, advocated by the think tank Compassion in Politics Australia. Around six federal and state lawmakers have since committed to sign.
Independent lawmaker Kate Chaney said she intended to follow Ms Haines’ example by making such a pledge.
“I think there’s something really symbolic about the fact that Helen was the only federal M.P. (Member of Parliament) to have signed this,” Chaney told the ABC.
“It is a very simple thing. It just says ‘in my political life, I pledge to act with honesty, respect and compassion.’ And that feels to me like a simple and poignant way to honour the contribution Helen’s made to the parliament,” Ms Chaney added.
Compassion in Politics Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
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