Before politics, Helen Haines spent decades working around hospitals in her federal seat of Indi and captured the local mental health crisis with her trademark gentle decency that a few years later echos with bittersweet poignancy.
asserted
that → spend → poignancy
“Everywhere I travel in Indi, people talk to me about mental health.
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people → travel → health
About the challenges they face in getting help for themselves or their loved ones when facing mental ill-health, and about the impact it has on them and their communities
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it → face → them
,” she said.
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she → say → ?
“I’ve spent 35 years working in the hospitals of North East Victoria.
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I → spend → Victoria
I know what it looks like when we fail to properly fund our mental health services.”
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we → know → services
On Monday, Haines was allegedly attacked by a man driving a Toyota Landcruiser while unpacking her car outside her Wangaratta electorate office.
uncertain
Haines → attack → office
She lost both legs and remains in a Melbourne hospital.
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She → lose → hospital
No clear motive for the attack has emerged.
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motive → emerge → attack
In the hours afterwards, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced that a multi-agency response – involving Victoria Police, the AFP, ASIO and the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team – prompting a Petri dish of paranoia in the media that conflated terrorism, antisemitism and left-wing and right-wing musings and rants.
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that → announce → terrorism
Then, in the days that followed, many MPs revealed the fetid standard of political debate in Australia was behind an increasingly hostile political discourse and surging threats against elected leaders.
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standard → follow → leaders
Senior government and opposition figures moved to reassure anxious colleagues.
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figures → move → colleagues
Security arrangements were reconsidered.
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arrangements → reconsider → ?
Meanwhile, Nugent, the man charged with attacking Haines, reportedly received treatment at psychiatric facilities, including a 20-bed acute adult mental health in-patient facility in Wangaratta, and had lived alone outside town for some 10 years.
uncertain
Nugent → charge → years
We don’t know the details of Nugent’s health history.
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We → know → history
But Wangaratta has echoes of the Bondi Junction tragedy when a homeless Queenslander with a history of mental illness, Joel Cauchi, 40, was shot dead by NSW Police after he rampaged through Westfield shopping centre and stabbed 16 people on April 2024.
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he → have → April
Six died.
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Six → die → ?
A coronial inquest determined that Cauchi, who suffered schizophrenia, was psychotic that day.
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who → determine → schizophrenia
The thrust of the coroner’s recommendations urged government to do better in housing and caring for the mentally unwell.
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thrust → urge → unwell
The Minns government accepted most of the coroner’s recommendations and announced a new health-led response model for mental health emergencies but, admitting its reforms were not enough, baulked on providing short- and long-term accommodation services.
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reforms → accept → services
Last week, the Herald reported on a confidential ministerial briefing note that warned $600 million a year would be needed to fix the state’s shortfall of frontline public mental health staff.
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million → report → staff
Police are also concerned that mental illness is increasing within the community, and they are relied upon as primary responders to emotional distress and mental health crises.
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they → concern → distress
No one wants to stigmatise those living with mental health problems.
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one → want → problems
But across Australia, there is no escaping the higher risk that comes with a parlous state of our mental health services, lack of support and misplaced priorities.
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that → be → support
The links between homelessness, isolation and mental health have been an ongoing and worsening issue, yet a crisis seems to be the only time this is openly discussed.
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this → worsen → homelessness
The attack on Haines is another reminder that Australia must get serious about mental health.
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Australia → get → health
It must be tackled as a matter of urgency – to look after sufferers, and to protect the rest of the community.
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It → tackle → community
Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own.
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that → get → own
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