MP Helen Haines lobbies for $2.7 bn rural health boost days before brutal attack

Helen Haines, an independent MP and former nurse, privately presented Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with a detailed analysis highlighting a $2.7 billion disparity in health spending between metropolitan and regional Australia. Within five days, she was allegedly run over twice by Brendan Nugent in a four-wheel-drive outside her Wangaratta office, leading to bilateral leg amputations and a stay in critical but stable condition at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

Nugent has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and a federal offence of harming a Commonwealth public official; his counsel claims he suffers from mental-health and neurological conditions. The incident has sparked a parliamentary briefing on rising threats to officials and renewed calls for better mental-health and rural health services. Crossbench members plan to raise both regional health funding and security measures when parliament resumes on Monday. The episode also coincides with a dispute over a document listing Haines' funding requests, which the prime minister downplayed as non-personal criticism.