Australian MP Helen Haines Serious but Stable Days After Losing Both Legs in Alleged Attack

The condition of Australian independent MP Helen Haines has improved slightly. After losing both legs in an alleged attack on Monday she had been listed as critical but stable; on Saturday morning Melbourne's Alfred hospital said her condition had been downgraded to serious but stable.

A spokesperson for the hospital said in Saturday morning's update: "The patient is in a serious but stable condition at The Alfred on Saturday morning." In medical terms the change marks one step up from the critical category, although her condition remains serious.

Haines is the federal MP for the Victorian seat of Indi. She was allegedly struck near her electorate office in north-east Victoria on Monday afternoon. The incident happened in Wangaratta, where she was seriously injured after being hit by a car.

After she was injured she was kept in hospital in a critical but stable condition. On Tuesday surgeons were trying to save her right leg, but the injuries were so serious that in the end both of her legs had to be amputated.

Police charged a man over the incident on Tuesday. The accused is Brendan Nugent, 43, from nearby Tarrawingee. He has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and the Commonwealth offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.

Police have since charged Nugent with two additional offences — cultivating cannabis and possessing cannabis — according to court documents, lengthening the list of charges he faces over the affair.

Nugent appeared in court on Wednesday and did not apply for bail. Attention will now turn to how the charges proceed through the court in the next stage of the case.

Meanwhile, an update posted on Haines's social media accounts on Friday said her staff were working to reopen her electorate offices next Thursday — an effort to gradually return constituency services to normal even while the MP herself is absent.

"What happened on Monday has deeply affected Helen's family and all of her staff. Many of us witnessed the incident and some were among the first to come to her aid," the post read.

"As Helen takes the time she needs to recover, we will take time to look after ourselves and one another, too. Healing will take time, and we ask for your understanding as we navigate the days and weeks ahead," it added.

The alleged attack on Haines has reverberated through Australian politics, prompting conversations about the temperature of political debate and about mental health services in regional Victoria.

For now all eyes are on the hospital's next update. The recovery path for an MP who has lost both legs is expected to be long, and her staff's message is above all a plea for that time to be given.