Crossbenchers Scold Taylor for Ignoring Haines Attack Context

Parliament resumed in Canberra on Monday, one week after Indi MP Helen Haines lost both legs in an alleged attack outside her electorate office in northern Victoria.

Two crossbench MPs immediately criticized opposition leader Angus Taylor for his response to the incident. Monique Ryan and Zali Steggall described his remarks as tone deaf and said he failed to read the room. The 43-year-old man charged in the case remains under investigation, with police yet to disclose a motive.

In his speech, Taylor rejected the notion that parliamentary behavior feeds political violence. He stated that some have suggested a causal connection between robust debate and violence, but he disagreed with that view. Taylor argued that the Westminster system exists to settle differences through rigorous debate rather than force. He maintained that those who turn to intimidation or violence cross a line that must never be crossed.

Taylor also said Labor had been right to call out far-right extremism but urged that all forms of extremism be rejected. He proposed that judges should come down harder on those found guilty of intimidation or violence. Additionally, he suggested Australia should be celebrated more readily, arguing that too many people had been taught to feel guilt and shame about the country and its history.

Steggall, the independent member for Warringah who sits beside Haines in the lower house, said she was personally disappointed in the speech. She stated there is a link between words and actions and did not feel Taylor grasped the lesson Haines would want people to learn. She noted that the same care should apply to media reporting, election advertising, and social media. Steggall said she spoke with Haines's husband, Phil Haines, in Canberra on Monday. He asked MPs to raise the bar so that a meaningful shift toward respectful debate occurs by the time Helen Haines returns to parliament. Steggall added that while disagreement is possible, words matter and have an impact.

Ryan, the independent member for Kooyong, called Taylor's response hugely disappointing. She told ABC TV that if Taylor does not think the words used matter, she does not understand how he aspires to lead a political party. Ryan stated that if parliament could not rise to the occasion after an unthinkable event, it never would.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce also opposed changing parliamentary practice. He told News24 that his thoughts and prayers were with Haines and her family, calling the alleged attack so unAustralian. Joyce said parliament had a part to play but would not solve the problem. He pointed to a change in dynamics in Australia and abroad, citing vindictive, arsenic type of rhetoric in public life. He called it foolish to think that if question time changes, Australia changes. Former Liberal leader Peter Dutton told News24 that more violence against politicians in Australia was inevitable, stating that it had been building for a long period of time.