Warning signs over threats to Australian politicians were rising before MP hit by car

As increasingly frequent acts of violence against politicians have shocked the globe in recent years, Australia has watched on with a contradictory feeling: that attacks like that could not happen here, and that it was only a matter of time until they did.

Australians will tell you this is a largely peaceful society with a comparatively civil public discourse. Violence targeting politicians has been rare, the bungled assassination of Labor leader Arthur Calwell in 1966 now a distant and fleeting memory.

But MPs and public figures – backed by experts – have been warning of a volcano of threats against them as social cohesion cracks, polarisation intensifies and the tone of debate grows hotter.

And on Monday, their worst fears appear to have been realised.

Independent MP Helen Haines was struck by a car and severely injured outside her office in the regional Victorian town of Wangaratta.

Police say a 43-year-old man was arrested at the scene, and a knife seized, but they have not said Haines was hit deliberately.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, swiftly described the incident as an apparent attack.

Source: BBC News World RSS (Open Press / Full Text)