Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack

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1. 1

   Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 21, 2026Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “Watch: 'Her heart and her mind are in good shape', husband of Helen Haines says Helen Haines, the Australian MP who was hit by a car in what authorities say was a deliberate attack, has lost both her legs, her husband has confirmed. Phil Haines said the"horrendous incident" caused his wife significant injuries but "her heart and her mind are in good shape". He added that the "good news in all this is that she's alive". The alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, faces multiple charges and appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday. Nugent was arrested moments after he allegedly drove his Toyota LandCruiser into the independent MP outside her electorate office in the regional town of Wangaratta, about 240km (150miles) northeast of Melbourne. Haines' "road to recovery will be long and difficult, but we know she is a fighter," her husband said at a press conference in Melbourne where she is being treated. "She is a determined person who will do her best, with our support and love, to recover. And that is what we hope for." He thanked hospital staff and people, both in Australia and internationally, who have shown their concern for Haines, and urged those who want to show their support to donate to the Save the Children fund. Earlier on Wednesday, Nugent appeared at the local court to face three charges: dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.”

2. 2

   The Cost of Debating Harassment Against Politicians: Are Women and Men Affected Equally?

   Political Behavior (Håkansson & Grahn)Published Apr 9, 2025Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “We investigate the impact of political harassment on candidate appeal in Sweden, using a multimethod approach. First, a qualitative content analysis demonstrates that Swedish news stories where politicians comment on harassment against politicians often include weakness signals such as being fearful or worried. Second, we use an original conjoint experiment with 1,300 party selectors from six Swedish parties. This analysis shows that commenting on political violence in the media has an adverse effect on candidate appeal, likely because doing so activates politically undesirable images of victimhood. We also find that being associated with the issue is equally damaging to women’s and men’s political careers. Lastly, we conduct in-depth interviews with Swedish party selectors. These further illustrate that addressing this issue is perceived as deviating from the assertive model of a politician and that political violence is not regarded as a vote-winning issue. As a whole, our results demonstrate that publicly addressing the problem of violence against politicians can harm political careers and thus deter politicians from drawing policy attention to the issue.”

3. 3

   Violence Against Politicians Drives Support for Political Violence Among (Some) Voters: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

   Public Opinion Quarterly (Nai et al.)Published Jan 1, 2025Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “We investigate whether a real-world episode of physical violence committed in October 2023 against Thierry Baudet, leader of the Dutch far-right FvD, conditioned a differential support for political violence among different voters: voters ideologically close to the target of the attack (in-group) and voters experiencing partisan Schadenfreude toward the party of the target (out-group). The unexpectedness of the attack makes it an excellent case of exogenous treatment in a natural experiment ("Unexpected Event during Survey Design). The fact that the attack occurred in the midst of a survey unfolding a rolling cross-section design yields likely more robust estimations than usually found in similar natural experiments. Our results indicate that the attack against Baudet slightly normalized political violence in the short term. While no specific uptick of support for violence was measured among respondents close to the FvD, in the short and medium term the attack furthermore slightly increased support for violence among respondents who dislike the FvD and experience partisan Schadenfreude.”

4. 4

   The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment against Female Politicians

   Perspectives on Politics (Krook & Sanín)Published Jul 2, 2019Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “Yet conceptual ambiguities remain as to the exact contours of this phenomenon. In this article, we seek to strengthen its theoretical, empirical, and methodological foundations. We propose that the presence of bias against women in political roles—originating in structural violence, employing cultural violence, and resulting in symbolic violence—distinguishes this phenomenon from other forms of political violence. We identify five types of violence against women in politics—physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and semiotic—and three methodological challenges related to underreporting, comparing men’s and women’s experiences, and intersectionality. Inspired by the literature on hate crimes, we develop an empirical approach for identifying cases of violence against women in politics, offering six criteria to ascertain whether an attack was potentially motivated by gender bias. We apply this framework to analyze three cases: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, and the murder of Jo Cox. We conclude with the negative implications of violence against women in politics and point to emerging solutions around the globe.”

5. 5

   The Gendered Representational Costs of Violence against Politicians

   Perspectives on Politics (Håkansson)Published Jul 26, 2023Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “Women face more harassment and intimidation as politicians than men, but little is known about how this affects representation. I develop a theoretical framework for studying the gendered costs of political violence for descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Testing the framework using interview and survey data on Swedish women and men politicians, I uncover the costs of violence against politicians in all three dimensions empirically. Violence makes women more frequently than men consider leaving politics and enforces male-coded characteristics for political candidates, affecting prospects for gender-diverse descriptive representation. Substantive representation is harmed by violence silencing feminist debates and obstructing women politicians’ policy debate activities. Women’s symbolic representation is threatened by violence coercing women to decrease their visibility.”