Knight toon asks ‘what steered the actions of Helen Haines’ attacker’

Are we a less tolerant society than we were before?

We are witnessing how social media has unleashed and turbocharged a side of human nature that sees unbridled* commentary and abuse tossed around freely.

Turbo-charging that behaviour even more is AI and its online fake images and video being used to inflame situations and play to our biases*.

We have seen the massacre of Jewish Australians at Sydney’s Bondi Beach because a couple of individuals thought that those families and their children that gathered at a park beside our nation’s most famous beach were somehow responsible for what the Israeli government was doing in Gaza.

And tragically, this week we have witnessed a horrific attack on a Member of our federal parliament, the independent Helen Haines, inexplicably* mowed down in a frightfully cruel act by an individual driving a 4WD, as the MP was simply removing items from the boot of her car in the Victorian country city of Wangaratta.

At the time of writing, Minister Haines remains in Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital in a critical condition. She has lost both her legs. Was it an act of terrorism? Was Helen Haines attacked because her attacker vehemently* disagreed with her political policies?

The MP for Indi is one of our most respected and decent parliamentarians. She is not a firebrand* style politician who spits bile and thumps the lectern with her fist when she speaks. She is independent, neither Labor nor Liberal, National, Green, nor One Nation. She was a former nurse and midwife*, and brought that career of caring for others into a political role. I follow politics for a living and she is the last person I would suggest who might attract grievous* bodily threats.

The alleged perpetrator* is 43-year-old local man Brendan Nugent. His family knows the Haines family, as is the case with people who live in country towns. Nugent’s life spiralled into a loner’s existence, allegedly self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. He had a diagnosed psychiatric* condition. He was a former activist for left-leaning causes like deforestation*, the environment and Gaza. As a younger man, he gained a degree in environmental science from Melbourne University and former colleagues say that he was a regular guy.

He had made contact with Helen Haines MP on social media platform X, but these occasional comments were not of a violent nature. For reasons currently unknown, he was tipped over the edge, and his posts on social media became more agitated. His behaviour deteriorated. Neighbours were concerned. And then Australian politics changed forever with his act of gross violence.

The one positive to come out of Monday’s attack were the locals – shop workers from nearby stores – who rushed to Helen’s aid, gave medical assistance and apprehended the attacker till police arrived. It restored some faith in our community.

Unfortunately, this attack heightens concerns about violence towards politicians and particularly female politicians. The Prime Minister asked for a “lowering of the temperature” of our political climate and the Victorian Premier revised security for all MPs during the upcoming November Victorian state election.

I knew I would have to make a comment about the attack in my daily political cartoon but there are some issues that just leave you with no words, when it is a struggle to formulate an idea that sums up the situation.

But this act was so devastating and so unfathomable* that I thought that fact would be my starting point.

What drove Nugent to allegedly maim* a person of such renowned decency? Why are such hatreds acted out?

I imagined his hands on the wheel of that 4WD, steering it. But what was steering him?

In the cartoon, I concluded that an inexplicable*, crazed hatred guided his actions, fuelled by the modern influence of social media and extremist ideation*.

It is a foreboding* illustration.

It was also a painful cartoon to draw, as I thought about Helen and her family, and the price they have paid in the service of the parliament of Australia.

We need good people, smart people like Minister Haines, serving in our nation’s capital. Will this terrible event dissuade* people, particularly women, from standing for public office?

There was a member of the public who stood across the road from Helen Haines’ electoral office in Wangaratta the next day, holding an Australian flag. On his T-shirt he had written the words, “Wangaratta, this is not us”. Let’s hope he’s right.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• unbridled: not controlled
• biases: prejudices or strong ideas for or against certain viewpoints or groups of people in a way that is closed minded or unfair
• inexplicably: a way that can’t be explained or accounted for
• vehemently: in a strong, intense or forceful way
• firebrand: someone who uses strong, aggressive or passionate speeches in order to make people angry or excited so they can stir up action to change the existing political order
• midwife: a nurse who delivers babies and cares for women who are pregnant and who have recently given birth
• grievous: relating to grievous bodily harm, which is a serious criminal law term meaning serious physical harm inflicted upon a person
• perpetrator: attacker
• psychiatric: mental illness that affects a person’s thinking, ability to regulate their emotions, behaviour and cognitive ability
• deforestation: the permanent removal of trees and forest cover by humans, which has a negative impact on the wider environment
• unfathomable: impossible to understand
• maim: injure someone so badly that part of their body no longer works properly or is permanently disabled or damaged
• inexplicable: unable to be explained or understood
• extremist ideation: adopting radical beliefs that reject the core values of a society and justify the use of violence to bring about change
• foreboding: a strong, uneasy feeling that something bad is going to happen soon
• dissuade: convince or persuade someone not to do something or believe something

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QUICK QUIZ
1. Who is Helen Haines?
2. Which political party is she from?
3. What were some of her past jobs before becoming a politician?
4. What has this attack signified for Australia, a country where most politicians have freely mingled with the public without need of personal security?
5. In what way does Mark Knight’s cartoon use visual imagery to explore the factors that could have led Haines’ alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, to commit such a horribly violent act against her?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Write an open letter
Write an open letter to the people of Australia, encouraging them to treat others with respect and tolerance, even when they disagree on important issues. Use persuasive language and techniques to convince your audience that respectful and tolerant behaviour is important.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Civics and Citizenship, Ethical Understanding

2. Extension
This news story begins with a question, “Are we a less tolerant society than we were before?”

Give your answer to this question, explaining your point of view.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Civics and Citizenship, Ethical Understanding

VCOP ACTIVITY
BAB it!
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives “because’’, “and”, and “but” (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.