Nugent remains in custody after court appearance in Haines case

Victoria police add protections as threats against MPs continue

Brendan Nugent, the 43-year-old Tarrawingee man accused of driving a Toyota LandCruiser into independent MP Helen Haines outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, appeared at the Wangaratta magistrates court on Wednesday morning. Nugent did not request bail and will remain in custody until a committal mention on 4 February. He appeared on charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and a federal offence of causing harm to a commonwealth public official.

Nugent looked downcast in a grey jumper and stared straight ahead. Magistrate Allison Vaughan noted that Nugent had mental-health and neurological concerns and that it was his first time in custody. Vaughan asked for a mental health professional to see Nugent immediately after the court appearance.

His lawyer, Chirag Patel, said his client was not on any prescribed medication and was not withdrawing from any substances. Patel said Nugent was also suffering from concussion and idiopathic transverse myelitis, an inflammatory disorder of the spinal cord.

Haines lost a leg and remains in a critical but stable condition at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, where doctors have been working to save her other leg.

At an earlier press conference in Melbourne, before Nugent’s court appearance, Victoria police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said investigators were considering whether to lodge further charges against Nugent. “That’s always a consideration,” Bush said. “Of course, we have to locate and follow the evidence, but this is a very serious and tragic incident, and we will be looking at all serious charges.” Bush also said: “There was nothing known to us that would have arisen, or piqued our interest, or given any indication that [Nugent] was an immediate threat.” Bush said Victoria police had deployed more staff to Wangaratta to assure the local community but said he was confident the incident was isolated.

The AFP and Victoria police said they had no intelligence to suggest that Nugent would go on to allegedly drive a Toyota LandCruiser into Haines in what was described as a targeted attack. Barrett said: “We didn’t have any specific intelligence that would have indicated something as atrocious as happened on Monday afternoon.” She added: “I can confirm we had no holdings or no intelligence to suggest that there was any threat to MP Haines.”

At the same press conference, Barrett was asked whether her team was aware of Nugent’s social-media posts, which included references to conspiracy theories and conflict in the Middle East.

Neither Barrett nor Bush alleged a motive for the alleged attack on Haines, which remained under investigation. They made general comments about the rising threat to MPs. Barrett said the AFP was charging almost one person a week for targeting politicians. “The shocking alleged attack yesterday is what many had been dreading for some time,” Barrett said.

Barrett condemned what she called a “febrile” political environment. She said federal MPs were increasingly worried about threats and described a “growing volume of online abuse, threatening rhetoric, and intimidation, increasing political polarisation and anti-government sentiment.”

Barrett also raised concerns about “conspiracy-driven and grievance-based behaviours, lone actors motivated by a convergence of personal grievance, mental health vulnerabilities, and ideological concerns, and the potential for violence to emerge with little or no forewarning – particularly where individuals have no previous protection intelligence footprint.” The AFP and Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, Asio, will provide additional safety briefings to federal MPs on Wednesday. Around six of these sessions have been held this year.

Bush highlighted similar concerns and said Victoria police would create a centralised process to help monitor threats against MPs. “We want a single stop shop to report these things and have the ability to be very proactive,” Bush said.

On Tuesday, Victorian Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell said she had received more security support as the partner of federal MP Josh Burns than she did in her own role. She urged Victoria police to create a dedicated unit similar to that which exists within the AFP for politicians or people in high-profile roles. “They have teams that can monitor fixated people, shifts in language, in behaviour, see if they’re escalating, and then work out whether the continued behaviour could constitute an event,” Purcell said.

Bush, who was to address state MPs and ministers on Wednesday afternoon, said there were no resourcing restraints that would prevent Victorian politicians from receiving the protection they felt they deserved.

MSI previously reported the October 19 vehicle strike that injured Haines in Wangaratta and police data showing more than 1,000 threats against Australian politicians in the 2025-2026 financial year, providing context for Nugent’s court appearance and the AFP’s warnings.