THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

SPEECH
CONDOLENCE MOTION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, CANBERRA

MONDAY 26 OCTOBER 2026

Check against delivery

Mr Speaker

As we look across the chamber, we see the empty seat left by the Member for Indi. 

How lonely it looks after the senseless violence visited on her last Monday outside her office in Wangaratta. 

We were stunned by the attack. 

We don’t know why a local man turned his Toyota Land Cruiser into a two-tonne weapon and robbed Helen Haines of her legs and health. 

We don’t know why. 

And that question gnaws at us because we know Helen Haines, and we know that she is a kind and gentle lady. 

We’ve all seen Helen gracefully gliding through the corridors during the working day. 

We’ve all known Helen’s smile, channelling that Wangaratta warmth. 

And we’re all stunned because we don’t know why someone would want to hurt her. 

Perhaps we’ll never know why. 

But we’re also stunned because the violence was an assault on our way of life. 

It was an assault on our culture of debate, negotiation and compromise—of resolving our differences peacefully. 

That’s the whole purpose of this chamber. 

That’s the whole purpose of this Parliament. 

That’s the whole purpose of Australian democracy. 

To resolve our differences with civility, and without violence. 

The brutal attack on Helen Haines forces us to pause and reflect. 

It’s a time for us to pause, and to ask: how can we do better? 

How can I do better? 

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve overreached in my language during my eleven years in this House. 

We’ve all erred in this way at some time. 

Indeed, we account for it in our standing orders: that’s why we ask Members to withdraw unparliamentary remarks. 

It’s a good and realistic convention—because people make mistakes. 

We are, after all, in a political contest. 

We all want to win, and a good debate in this place sometimes leaves us feeling bruised—more often than not for reasons of ego than of substance. 

But our system is designed to be adversarial—our job on the Opposition benches is to hold the government to account. 

Sometimes with a rhetorical hip and shoulder. 

We make no apologies for asking tough questions, nor for the discomfort those questions bring to Ministers of the Crown. 

That’s how we get good governance in the national interest. 

Our Parliament requires tough and rigorous debate. 

But, in moments like this one, we can reflect on how we can do better. 

There are 150 Members in this House with the duty to model, steward and uphold our democratic traditions for the 27 million Australians that we serve. 

That’s why there can be no place for the targeted destruction of character, or the relentless demonisation of personality. 

Because it only takes one person—with a twisted mind or a perverted sense of reality—to strike out. 

To weaponise a car. A kitchen knife. Or a firearm. 

And to feel justified in doing so, because they judge that an online assassination must be followed up with a real-life assassination.

What we say here or online shapes the political culture. 

We can all do better, and we should strive to do better. 

So, let’s play the ball, not the man—and leave the nasty politics of MAGA in the United States. 

Beyond this House, we need more Australians like Ricky Jeffries—the local barber who acted like a Good Neighbour in the moment of crisis. 

Who went towards danger for Helen Haines. 

Who subdued her assailant. 

Who recovered order out of the chaos. 

Many of us were touched by Ricky’s humility when he stopped cutting hair the following morning and answered questions for reporters outside his shop in Wangaratta. 

He was cautious in his remarks, downplayed his heroism, and noted his obligations as a neighbour to Helen and his local community. 

We need more Good Neighbours like Ricky Jeffries—who are more bonded to their local community, and less consumed by the fiery utterances of the false community online. 

Ricky knew the first responders helping Helen because he cut their hair, not because of social media networks. 

There’s something in that. 

We thrive as a nation when we are in community with our neighbours. 

When we are known by them, and they are known by us. 

That takes work, patience, and time. 

Face to face. 

In the flesh. 

That’s how you build trust. It’s not easy, but we’ve got to do it. 

Because if we want to keep Australian democracy, we need more Australians like Helen Haines and Ricky Jeffries, who show us what it is to be good neighbours. 

In the meantime, we hope and pray for Helen Haines’s speedy recovery.

For her family—especially her husband Phil—for her team and we look forward to when she returns to her seat in the House of Representatives. 

Thank you.

[ENDS]