Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has defended Anthony Albanese while urging politicians to lower the temperature of public debate, amid controversy over an alleged “dirt file” concerning independent MP Helen Haines.
Ms Haines, the Member for Indi, remains in a critical condition after allegedly being struck twice by a Toyota LandCruiser outside her office in Wangaratta, north-east Victoria, on Monday afternoon. Brendan Nugent, 43, is accused of driving into her, reversing, and then hitting her a second time.
The alleged attack, in which Ms Haines lost a leg, has shocked Australia. In its aftermath, the Prime Minister praised her integrity and called for unjustified attacks on politicians’ motives to stop.
However, questions have since been raised over claims that Mr Albanese’s office circulated a briefing to journalists which questioned Ms Haines’s integrity after she criticised a $6 million government grant for his local golf course in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west.
Asked about the alleged file during an appearance on the Today programme, Mr Marles said the issue should not become an exercise in assigning blame.
“I don’t think it’s about pointing fingers,” he said. “I think what it is about is all of us taking responsibility for the way in which we engage in public discourse.”
Mr Marles praised Mr Albanese’s conduct in political debate, saying: “I actually think the Prime Minister is a person who, in terms of how he engages in discourse, in terms of the public debate, does so with grace.”
He added: “It’s one of the things I admire about Anthony Albanese, and I think anyone who looks at the way in which the Prime Minister goes about how he speaks on issues, speaks about his colleagues and speaks about politics. It is somebody who does so in a very sensible, considered and, I think, graceful way.”
The Deputy Prime Minister called on parliamentarians across the political divide to follow that example and recognise the sincerity with which colleagues sought to represent their communities.
“We all need to embrace that and just understand that while there are our opponents, if you like, in politics, who in many ways are our colleagues as well, and have differing views, we all acknowledge the sincerity with which people come to their work to try and improve their communities,” he said.
“And that has to be the starting point in the way in which we engage in the public debate.”
Mr Marles also paid tribute to Ms Haines, describing her as a beacon of decency who had consistently sought to represent her constituents and improve their lives.
“She has always been a picture of grace. So that this has happened to her, you know, is deeply upsetting and, as I say, my thoughts are very much with her and her family,” he said.
