A runner, Nanna and trailblazing MP, Helen Haines's life changed in an instant

A runner, a Nanna, a nurse and a trailblazing MP, Helen Haines's life changed in an instant At 65 years old, Helen Haines was starting to talk about what comes next after dedicating years of service to her community as a former nurse and MP. About to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary next month, she and her husband Phil had just welcomed another grandchild. But as with any busy parent working full time, she lamented the time politics took and how it sometimes drew her away from the people she loved the most. With a new baby to adore, she told friends she would have loved to live closer to see those first smiles, to savour the newborn baby smell and care for her family as a doting Nanna. On Tuesday Haines was in a critical condition in Melbourne's The Alfred hospital after being hit by a vehicle in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a deliberate attack outside her electorate office in Wangaratta on Monday afternoon. A 43-year-old man has been taken into custody. History-making win Haines made history in 2019, becoming the first independent to succeed another, winning the rural Victorian seat after the retirement of Cathy McGowan. Both independent MPs had ridden a wave of grassroots support that began in 2012, when a group of locals formed the Voices for Indi group. The collection of supporters were instrumental in McGowan's 2013 hard-fought election victory, which broke the Liberals' 82-year hold on the seat. When McGowan handed over the baton in 2019, Haines continued to buck the trend, cementing the seat's independent status. Regional issues at the heart of her work Unlike the group of independents in affluent metro seats, Haines's climate change focus had centred on the immediate threat that it posed to farming and regional survival. Integrity was at the heart of her political message from the outset. In her maiden speech, she advocated for a robust federal integrity commission, which she said would "restore the trust that so many Australians have lost". Haines's draft model was integral to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) created in 2023. She later served as the deputy chair of the parliamentary committee which oversees the watchdog. Hours before her accident, Haines welcomed the appointment of a new NACC commissioner and deputy, and the "reset" of the integrity body. As a leading voice for regional Australia, Haines was fuelled by the catastrophic Black Summer fires of 2019-2020 in her advocacy for regional telecommunications reform. "The summer sounds of cicada replaced by the ping-ping-ping of the VicEmergency app — it's like the heart monitor of a nation in the intensive care unit," she said in 2020. Haines spearheaded the push for temporary disaster roaming, an emergency system activated this month that allows Australians to switch to another carrier's network if theirs fails during a severe disaster. Running rings around most On Tuesday morning it was confirmed that Haines had lost a leg after being pinned between two cars in the attack. Her husband Phil, friends and family are maintaining a bedside vigil. Earlier, those who exercised regularly with her applauded her dedication to staying so active into her 60s. "She's incredibly fit, she has run for our team in the Wangaratta marathon festival," Centre Against Violence for the Ovens/Murray CEO Jaime Chubb said. "When she first turned up we thought she would walk it, but she ran it." Community at her core Helen Haines is known for sending hand-signed cards and recalling personal details about the many people she meets. Today, constituents shocked by the attack are writing back to her with personal hand-written messages being placed lovingly on her office doorstep. In 2021 Haines helped ABC Goulburn Murray celebrate its 90th anniversary of broadcasting, speaking about the importance of regional story-telling and commitment to being local and dedicated to your community. Before moving to Chiltern and becoming the independent Member for Indi, Haines honed her caring skills as a nurse at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne. Rural City of Wangaratta Mayor Irene Grant said Haines could win over even the most prickly of patients. "My father had a surgery at the hospital when Helen was a nurse there, and her kindness, and the way she dealt with my dad, who was not an easy person to deal with, was fabulous, and that probably created my first impression of Helen and the sort of person she is," Grant said. In late August, at an ABC Matter of Facts workshop about how to equip people to identify false information, Haines chatted to people about the importance of looking out for one another in a changing world. She also briefly touched on some health challenges she had this year. "I had to put out a proof of life statement because people were concerned and asking if I was was OK," she jokingly quipped. Health career carried into politics Helen Haines was lured to the north-east by her sweetheart, Phil Haines, an agricultural scientist at the Rutherglen Research Institute. At just 26, she became a matron at the Chiltern Bush Nursing Hospital before she and Phil moved to a farm on a billabong of the King River in Wangaratta. She continued her nursing work and eventually undertook a master's degree in epidemiology and public health that involved further study in Sweden where she completed a doctoral degree in medical science. Her three decade career in health — as a nurse, midwife and healthcare researcher — shaped her demands to address the existing regional health gap. The expansion of the commonwealth "paid prac" program, to ensure students who undertake mandatory placements get paid, was the result of sustained pressure from Haines and independent senator David Pocock. She also pushed for parliamentarians to be held to higher standards, through a binding code of conduct to address bullying, sexual harassment and other behaviour following the allegations made by Brittany Higgins. "If one woman doesn't feel safe in our parliament, then no woman [does],"she said. Praying for Helen Helen and Phil have three children, Will, Nick and Georgia, and the time in Sweden gave them a lifelong "appreciation" for sour herring. In her parliamentary maiden speech she spoke of the importance of family, their love and support. The Haines family has issued a statement thanking those who helped yesterday, bystanders and health workers and the police for their response. At the heart of Helen Haines's life has always been her family. Now that family is rallying by her hospital bed, praying they'll be getting cuddles from their smiling Nanna soon. [Image text:] CENTRE AGAINST VIOLENCE