Australian lawmaker Helen Haines was in a critical condition on Monday after being deliberately struck by a car outside her office, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying a terrorism task force would be investigating an arrested suspect.
Albanese told a news conference it was too early to determine the motive for the attack but later pointed to the changing face of social media having raised the temperature around politics in a country where such violence is extremely rare.
Victoria Police said a 43-year-old man had been arrested after the attack on independent MP Haines in Wangaratta, around three hours’ drive northeast of Melbourne.