Man charged over attack on Australian MP Helen Haines appears in court; police do not rule out further charges

A 43-year-old man charged over the alleged attack on Australian independent federal MP Helen Haines appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court in Victoria on Wednesday morning local time and was remanded in custody, ABC News and The Guardian reported.

Brendan Nugent is charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the Commonwealth offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official. A summary of charges released to the media also alleged he cultivated and used cannabis, The Guardian reported. He did not apply for bail and will remain in custody until a committal mention on 4 February. His lawyer, Chirag Patel, told the court Nugent had concussion and a neurological condition, and the magistrate asked for him to be seen by a mental health professional.

Haines, 65, the member for Indi, was injured outside her electorate office in Wangaratta on Monday. She remains in a critical but stable condition at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, ABC News said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to her husband.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the investigation was “far from complete” and police were “not ruling out further serious charges”. He said police believed it was “a deliberate but isolated act” and that Nugent’s motive was “very much a centrepiece of the investigation”.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the AFP had “no intelligence to suggest that there was any threat” to Haines, and that it was “charging almost one individual every week for targeting Commonwealth parliamentarians or high office holders”. MPs were receiving security briefings in Canberra on Wednesday from ASIO, the Department of Home Affairs and the AFP, The Guardian reported.