Oct 21, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min · 19 segments
Enter our listener survey to win a Lamestream merch prize pack! Os and Scott discuss the alleged attack on federal MP Helen Haines, including how the…
Osman FaruqiHostScott MitchellHostOs, on Monday afternoon, independent MP Helen Haines was hit by a car outside her electoral office.
The alleged attacker has been named as Brendan Nugent, a 43-year-old man who has been charged now with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.
There has been a massive amount of commentary trying to put some meaning to this, I think.
People trying to associate the alleged attacker with a left-wing or right-wing ideology.
We are going to get all into that, Os, 'cause it is important to talk about how this story has been shaped so quickly and, and by whom, but I really don't wanna start this conversation with wading straight into that, Os.
I, I kind of wanna start with talking about why this has been so shocking to so many people.
Like, we've both had to cover violent attacks on people in our careers, Os, and I don't think it gets any less shocking or distressing.
It just, each time something like this happens, it, it is really affecting, isn't it, Os?
I mean, the details are pretty horrific, even if the victim wasn't high profile.
This is someone allegedly running into someone else repeatedly in a four-wheel drive, and by all reports, the scene was incredibly terrifying.
Some very heroic bystanders intervened, a lot of witnesses who saw what happened.
On Wednesday afternoon, Helen's husband, Phil, spoke from hospital and announced that after Helen had first lost one leg as a result of the alleged attack, doctors have now had to remove her second leg.
But he said that she was in a stable condition and said that she's a fighter But that there was a long road to recovery ahead.
It's a very devastating, devastating situation, and just incredibly grim and sad news.
And I, I sort of thinking about this and talking about it on the show today, I did wanna talk about Helen Haines, 'cause I feel like that should come before anything else really.
And there may be people who don't fully know her story, and it feels right to talk about.
I mean, her first career was as a nurse and midwife, and she became really accomplished in that field.
She has published, like, over 60 academic papers on midwifery, and that's just the kind of very full career that I think so few politicians have these days who come straight out of university politics working for political interests all their lives.
Now, she won the seat of Indi in 2019 as a community independent and the successor to Cathy McGowan, which was pretty famous in its own right because it's just so rare for a seat to stay independent after the first-
Os, on Monday afternoon, independent MP Helen Haines was hit by a car outside her electoral office.
The alleged attacker has been named as Brendan Nugent, a 43-year-old man who has been charged now with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.
There has been a massive amount of commentary trying to put some meaning to this, I think.
People trying to associate the alleged attacker with a left-wing or right-wing ideology.
We are going to get all into that, Os, 'cause it is important to talk about how this story has been shaped so quickly and, and by whom, but I really don't wanna start this conversation with wading straight into that, Os.
I, I kind of wanna start with talking about why this has been so shocking to so many people.
Like, we've both had to cover violent attacks on people in our careers, Os, and I don't think it gets any less shocking or distressing.
It just, each time something like this happens, it, it is really affecting, isn't it, Os?
I mean, the details are pretty horrific, even if the victim wasn't high profile.
This is someone allegedly running into someone else repeatedly in a four-wheel drive, and by all reports, the scene was incredibly terrifying.
Some very heroic bystanders intervened, a lot of witnesses who saw what happened.
On Wednesday afternoon, Helen's husband, Phil, spoke from hospital and announced that after Helen had first lost one leg as a result of the alleged attack, doctors have now had to remove her second leg.
But he said that she was in a stable condition and said that she's a fighter But that there was a long road to recovery ahead.
It's a very devastating, devastating situation, and just incredibly grim and sad news.
And I, I sort of thinking about this and talking about it on the show today, I did wanna talk about Helen Haines, 'cause I feel like that should come before anything else really.
And there may be people who don't fully know her story, and it feels right to talk about.
I mean, her first career was as a nurse and midwife, and she became really accomplished in that field.
She has published, like, over 60 academic papers on midwifery, and that's just the kind of very full career that I think so few politicians have these days who come straight out of university politics working for political interests all their lives.
Now, she won the seat of Indi in 2019 as a community independent and the successor to Cathy McGowan, which was pretty famous in its own right because it's just so rare for a seat to stay independent after the first-
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