An Australian lawmaker is critical but stable after being hit by a car, the prime minister says

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian federal lawmaker remained in a hospital in a critical but stable condition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday as he praised a barber who helped restrain a driver accused of deliberately hitting her. Helen Haines, a 65-year-old independent politician, was struck by a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV on Monday outside her office in her electorate in the city of Wangaratta in Victoria state. The 43-year-old driver remained in police custody on Tuesday.

The prime minister thanks a bystander for intervening Albanese said he phoned local barber Ricky Jefferies, who had run from his store to help members of the public detain the suspect, to thank him on Tuesday for intervening. “It’s a reminder that at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character,” Albanese said in Melbourne. Jefferies had earlier told reporters he searched the driver’s pockets and removed a knife.

Police confirmed a knife had been found. Jefferies also said he did not consider himself a hero. “I just ran out the front to see what was happening and … amazing members of the Wangaratta community who I know, or know most of them, and they were helping.” The lawmaker’s family says it’s grateful for the ‘swift assistance of bystanders’ Haines’s family released a statement expressing thanks for the “swift assistance of bystanders” as well as health workers and police.

Haines, who was first elected to Parliament in 2019 and had been reelected twice since, was initially taken to a hospital in Wangaratta, a city of 30,000 people. She was airlifted later on Monday to a hospital in the state capital, Melbourne, 236 kilometers (147 miles) away. The Alfred Hospital didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment on media reports that Haines had had a leg amputated.

The episode has shocked Australians, in part because political violence is rare here and politicians have always been accessible to the public. Most lawmakers are not accompanied by security officers and go about their work and personal lives on their own. However, recent data has shown that threats of political violence have grown in Australia.

The head of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation spy agency, Mike Burgess, on Tuesday reiterated an earlier warning that politically motivated violence was a top security concern, along with espionage and fore… The 43-year-old driver remained in police custody on Tuesday.The prime minister thanks a bystander for interveningAlbanese said he phoned local barber Ricky Jefferies, who had run from his store to help members of the public detain the suspect, to thank him on Tuesday for intervening.“It’s a reminder that at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character,” Albanese said in Melbourne.Jefferies had earlier told reporters he searched the driver’s pockets and removed a knife. Jefferies also said he did not consider himself a hero.“It was crazy," he said.