Australian MP injured in alleged attack, Europe rocked by riots

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But the good news in all this is Helen is alive and she's stable. That is the most important thing for our family.

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But if the United States will support Putin, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's tragedy. It's historic mistake.

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Zelensky doesn't know what he's talking about. I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.

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Then I realised, dadgummit, I got played.

Ben Lewis (1:13)

Hello and welcome to World News Weekly. I'm Ben Lewis in London.

Claudia Farhart (1:18)

And I'm Claudia Farhart back in Chicago.

Ben Lewis (1:21)

Claude, you've been on some adventures. I saw you've been jetting around with the RAAF.

Claudia Farhart (1:27)

Yeah, if anyone can see the state of my pop plant just behind me, haven't been spending a lot of time at home lately. I think we have some pictures for our vodcast YouTube viewers.

The RAAF has been here in Indonesia for about 12 days or so, doing their largest overseas drills of the year. And yeah, we took a Hercules over to East Java to watch some of them, which was all very fun. And Ben, you're going to be heading off soon as well. You've got the Israeli elections next week and then the US midterms.

Ben Lewis (1:55)

Yeah, if I end up on a military transport plane, something has gone very, very wrong. It should be an interesting couple of elections. And then there's this big question as to whether Israel and the US want to restart operations against Iran as well. So there's an awful lot going on over the next couple of weeks in international geopolitics.

Claudia Farhart (2:14)

Yeah, busy few weeks ahead for you, Ben. Busy week this week as well. We've got a big one on the pot, the massive riots sweeping major cities in Europe. What's behind them and are they just getting started?

Ben Lewis (2:28)

Also this week, as the clock ticks down to those midterm elections in the United States, we'll take a look at how Donald Trump's struggles on the international stage might affect the vote and whether the Democrats will be able to seize upon them.

Claudia Farhart (2:41)

But first, a shocking incident in regional Victoria that makes international headlines after independent MP Helen Haines was seriously injured in what the authorities believe was a deliberate attack.

Ben Lewis (2:56)

The alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines has sent shockwaves through federal politics in Australia, reigniting concerns about the safety of politicians and the threats they face. The 65-year-old remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital after being struck by a car outside her electorate office in regional Victoria. Her husband Phil confirmed on Wednesday that she lost both legs in the incident. In some parts of the world, elected representatives operate behind much tighter security or more restricted access.

So where should Australia draw the line between protecting its MPs and preserving their accessibility to the people they serve?

Claudia Farhart (3:38)

Well, our small but mighty political team has been working hard all week to closely follow these developments for SBS World News and they're all joining us now. We've got Anna Henderson and Naveen Razik on the line from Canberra. And our correspondent, Raeanne Tamer is in the town of Wangaratta. Thanks guys for all coming on the pod this week.

Rae, we want to start with you. You've been down there for a couple of days now. Just give us a sense of how the local community has been reacting to this story.

Raeanne Tamer (4:07)

All you really need to do is go to Helen Haines' electorate office where the incident occurred to get a grasp of how the community is feeling. This is what day two of day three of after the incident had occurred. And continually, there is this steady foot traffic of people there, still putting down flowers, people embracing each other. We went to a snap vigil yesterday that was held. More than 100 people were there, embracing one another, crying. They all just go back to expressing a sense of shock that something like this could happen. Many of them actually aren't supporters of Helen Haines as an independent member. Many were One Nation voters or national supporters. And say, even despite the political differences, an incident like this simply shouldn't occur.