Prime Minister, good to have you with us this morning. Thanks for your time. Do you have any more information on the attack this morning?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Helen remains in critical condition in Melbourne. She was medivacced to hospital last night. She underwent surgery. I spoke with Phil, her husband, last night, to pass on the best wishes, not just of myself, but I think of all Australians who’ll be thinking of Helen this morning. Someone is in custody, the alleged perpetrator of this incident. It’s very clear from the reports that this was a deliberate act. The motivation isn’t clear. We will allow the police, of course, to undertake their investigation. The Joint Counterterrorism Task Force has been established. It’s led by Victoria Police, but in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police and ASIO. And I’ll be briefed later this morning on the latest from their investigation.
STEFANOVIC: PM, what are police telling you about why they believe it was targeted and deliberate?
PRIME MINISTER: Due to the nature of what occurred, Helen Haines was getting something out of the boot of her car when, the reports from eyewitnesses, are that the car that struck Helen Haines did a U-turn and therefore that’s why this wasn’t, you know, something with a car just going off the road. This is something that is very clear, was aimed at causing harm to Helen Haines. There are other details that it’s up to the police to make public and we will allow them to do their investigation. But that is why I think this has shaken the community. Helen Haines is someone who is widely respected because she is so respectful of people right across the political spectrum. She’s someone who’s very passionate about representing that beautiful part of Victoria. She’s passionate about regional economic development, about the clean energy transition, about integrity in politics, about health care, about so many issues. And I’ve had the privilege of being in Helen’s electorate with her on a number of occasions as Prime Minister. And I’ve seen firsthand how loved she is by her community, because they know that she strongly represents them and that she puts her heart and soul into that representation. This is a tragic event and we just hope and pray for a speedy recovery for Helen. Our thoughts are very much with her family and friends at this time.
STEFANOVIC: Have you managed to get a word in with her family at all?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I spoke with her husband Phil last night on the phone and just passed on the very best wishes of Australians, as well as myself personally, to him.
STEFANOVIC: Online sleuths have found a possible offender, so social media is right now doing its thing. Was the man known to police at all?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll allow the police to do their investigations and it’s important that those investigations are done by police, not by, as you characterise them, online sleuths. What we need is more facts and less speculation at a time like this. We’ll allow them to do their investigation, to report as facts are known. That’s what we’ve done with last night and again this morning, keeping people updated. There’s an obvious interest in this, but someone, I can certainly confirm, that someone is in custody and Victoria police are leading the investigations.
STEFANOVIC: Can you shed any light into his political leanings at all? The attacker, I mean?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Look, the motivations for this aren’t clear at this stage, but we’ll allow those processes to take place.
STEFANOVIC: It is strange, though, isn’t it, because Helen Haines was possibly the least divisive politician in Canberra, yet she’s the one in hospital here.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, indeed there is, you know, we need to, as I’ve said on a number of occasions, quite possibly on your show, we need to turn the heat down. You know, we can have disagreement in politics without personalising it, and we all have a role to play in raising the level of political discourse and turning down the personal attacks and the level of division and rancour which is there. We need less shouting and more discussion. Helen Haines is someone who was characterised by civil discourse and engaging constructively right across the Parliament and being a major contributor across the Parliament.
STEFANOVIC: ASIO had recently warned about an uptick in political threats. But how do you prevent something like this happening when it’s part of your job to be in the community?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we don’t want to do, Pete, is to lose that Australian characteristic which is so important that local members and senators go to the footy or the netball or the swimming carnival, that they go to local community festivals, that they go to the local shops and engage with people, that’s important that we’re accessible and that people are able to have discussions with us. I find some of the best interactions that I have are when I’m at the shops buying food for the pooch or buying other things and just engaging with people. Where people come up and put a view respectfully, overwhelmingly, and that is important that people are able to do that. That’s the important part of our democracy that you don’t have in Australia. This country that prides ourselves on everyone being equal, that don’t have a sort of entrenched system where people are removed from the general population, that we’re able to do that, and I don’t want to lose that in our democracy. This is a test of the Australian character. And it’s important, I think, that we retain that sense of identity of who we are. This violent attack is not who we are.
STEFANOVIC: Is there any plan, though, to increase protection, whether that be for you or other MPs?
PRIME MINISTER: We go through constant monitoring by the Australian Federal Police. You know, people can have a look at the number of court cases that have been held this year and compare it with what the world was like 10 years and 20 years ago, and they’ll see a big difference.
STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
