Australian Parliament pays tribute to injured lawmaker as it resumes work under increased security

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Parliament resumed work on Monday with increased security and paid tribute to lawmaker Helen Haines who was critically injured last week in an alleged act of political violence.

Security screening measures were enhanced at Parliament House in the first session since Oct. 19, when authorities allege a driver rammed an SUV into Haines twice outside her electorate office. She remained in a Melbourne hospital on Monday in a serious but stable condition after both her legs were amputated.

A 43-year-old man has been charged with offenses including intentionally causing serious injury. Police have not revealed a motive.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was the first of several lawmakers to pay tribute to Haines, a respected independent. He proposed a motion expressing the Parliament’s wish for her recovery and support for her family. Her husband Phil Haines looked on from Parliament’s public gallery.

“While the investigations go on, we must not rush to conclusions. But nor can we shrug off the very real rise in anger that distorts and corrodes our public discourse,” Albanese told Parliament.

“Enabled by the anonymity and speed afforded by social media, we are seeing rage and aggression increasing, not just in politics, but toward workers in hospitality, in retail, in schools and in hospitals, toward police, paramedics and other officials,” Albanese added.

Albanese described a “normalization of the language of grievance and violence.”

“We must not conflate the robustness of Australian democracy with this rising tide of rage,” Albanese said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday threats against lawmakers were evenly spread between male and female politicians. But threats against women were more “personalized.”

Barrett said there was a “direct correlation” between the language political rivals use against each other and threats and abuse directed at lawmakers from the public.

Critics of Australian politics often complain that language that lawmakers sometimes use against each other would not be tolerated in any other workplace in the country.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor told Parliament he disagreed with those who saw a “casual connection between robust parliamentary debate and political violence.”

“We never allow that vigorous parliamentary debate to spill over into violence,” Taylor said.

Speaker Milton Dick noted that some lawmakers had suggested colleagues sign a so-called civility pledge in response to the alleged attack on Haines.

“This is a personal decision and I encourage all Members (of Parliament) to continue these discussions to decide the best way for themselves” to respond, Dick told Parliament.

Two months ago, Haines became the first Australian lawmaker to make such a pledge, advocated by a think tank established last year, Compassion in Politics Australia. Around six federal and state lawmakers have since committed to sign.

Independent lawmaker Kate Chaney said she intended to follow Haines’ example by making such a pledge.

“I think there’s something really symbolic about the fact that Helen was the only federal M.P. (Member of Parliament) to have signed this,” Chaney told the ABC.

“It is a very simple thing. It just says ‘in my political life, I pledge to act with honesty, respect and compassion.’ And that feels to me like a simple and poignant way to honor the contribution Helen’s made to the Parliament,” Chaney added.

The think tank's director, Jonathan Granger, said Haines approached his organization to sign the pledge in August after a media launch of the civility pledge attracted little attention. The pledge was a concept adopted from Compassion in Politics United Kingdom.

More Australian lawmakers had approached the organization to make the pledge than had been added it its website, Granger said. The organization was hoping for many more, given the focus in Parliament on Monday.

“It's just sad that it had to happen like this. ... What happened to Helen Haines was just a tragedy,” Granger said.

A photo of independent member of parliament Helen Haines is shown on the window of her electoral office in Wangaratta, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (James Ross/AAPImage via AP)

Independent member of parliament Zali Steggall sits next to a cutout cockatoo during a tribute to colleague Helen Haines, who was critically injured on Oct. 19 by a driver who struck her with a vehicle, at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Independent members of parliament react during a tribute to colleague Helen Haines, who was critically injured on Oct. 19 by a driver who struck her with a vehicle, at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pays tribute to independent lawmaker Helen Haines, who was critically injured on Oct. 19 when a driver struck her with a vehicle, at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordanian security forces arrested three men Monday for an attack on a Greek Orthodox Church that killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen.

The Public Security Directorate said the three suspects were arrested following a dawn shootout and that all three were wounded. No members of the security forces were injured in the dawn operation in Karak, south of Jordan’s capital, Amman. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The attack on the Greek Orthodox Church in Karak took place Friday during a funeral. Three men were reported to have taken part in the attack.

There was still no claim of responsibility, and no armed group has been accused of the attack.

Jordan's Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya identified the three men as those responsible for the attack.

“The security services have fulfilled their duties, resulting in the capture of those who carried out this terrorist act,” he said in a phone interview with state TV Al-Mamlaka. “They put up fierce resistance against the security forces, but were ultimately subdued and taken into custody, having sustained severe injuries.”

He added that there “are three individuals involved; they were identified early on in the wake of the terrorist incident, and the security services employed all the means at their disposal to apprehend them.”

King Abdullah II directed authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

Armed Jordanian police officers patrol near mourners during the funeral of victims killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)