Brendan Nugent identified over alleged car attack on Helen Haines
The man apprehended over an alleged car attack on independent MP Helen Haines has been identified as 43-year-old Brendan Nugent from Tarrawingee.
Guardian Australia confirmed the name on 20 October. Haines was in critical condition in hospital.
Police allege Nugent drove a Toyota in the incident. The alleged attack occurred on Monday outside Haines's electoral office in Wangaratta in north-east Victoria, according to Nine. The incident was described as an alleged car ramming attack.
Nugent remains in custody, the ABC reported. He was known to police, according to Seven News.
Nugent is a long-term forestry campaigner in the state's north east. He was a committee member of the Save our Strathbogie Forest Group, which campaigns against logging in the region, and became inactive in the group around 2019-2020.
He spent years researching the forestry industry in Victoria. He holds a masters of forest ecosystems science from the University of Melbourne and has been a registered business owner in Wangaratta.
In October 2019, Nugent praised Haines for her stance on climate change. He responded to a Haines post on X about an ABC Q+A episode by writing it would have been nice to include a politician who takes climate change seriously, such as Haines herself.
