Taylor: Australia ‘cannot become a place where violent attacks are normalized’
In an emotional television interview Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there has been a “rise in temperature” in the country’s political discourse, with “too much shouting, not enough discourse” and “not enough polite conversation and disagreement.” “I don’t want to see a political system in which you can’t have conversations with people at the supermarket, in the street, at street meetings, public forums,” Albanese said. “That’s the important part of our democracy.”
“And in a democracy, we should be able to have discussion, political debate, put different views, but do it in a way that is respectful,” Albanese said.
Albanese’s remarks came hours after independent MP Helen Haines was critically injured in what he said was a deliberate car strike outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, in the state of Victoria, at about 3:30 p.m. local time. Haines, who represents the Indi electoral division, was undergoing emergency surgery in Melbourne after being flown about 150 miles by air ambulance from Wangaratta, according to ABC News. A 43-year-old man is in police custody.
“This wasn’t an accident — there was a deliberate act, it would appear,” Albanese said, adding that federal police, domestic intelligence and joint counter-terrorism police were involved in the investigation. Albanese described Haines as “very passionate about her community” and forthright in pushing for what she believed her constituents needed.
ABC News host Patricia Karvelas said Haines had been scheduled to appear on the network’s Afternoon Briefing program Monday to discuss the establishment of a national anti-corruption commission. “We had her booked. We were going to speak to her about the National [Anti-Corruption] Commission,” Karvelas said. “She fought fiercely, as you know, for an independent body that investigated corruption.”
Opposition Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor said Australians would be “angry and appalled” and that Australia “cannot become a place where violent attacks are normalized.” Taylor said he had spoken with Albanese and that the pair were “united in our view that political violence must never be accepted as part of public life.”
Victorian State Premier Ben Carroll, a Labor MP, said he was “deeply appalled.” “I know how devastating this will be for the Wangaratta community and all those who Helen represents,” Carroll said.
South Australian MP Helen Sharkie, who represents the Mayo district, described Haines as “the best of us” and made a plea for politicians to be allowed to carry out their duties without fear of violence. “As members of parliament, whether you like individual members or not, we’re all just there trying to do the best job we can to represent our community. We deserve to go to work and come home from work safely just like any other person in the workplace,” Sharkie said.
The incident drew condemnation from lawmakers across the political spectrum, who criticized what they characterized as a rise in violent rhetoric and threats against politicians and more widely in Australian society, alongside expressions of shock and concern for Haines.