Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered UK MP Jo Cox and now the MP for the seat her late sister held, has offered Australia a moment of reflection after the attack on independent MP Dr Helen Haines - suggesting it might be a good time to "find common ground" and rethink how politics is practised here. Cox was shot and stabbed by a far-right extremist outside a library in 2016 while preparing to meet constituents, so Leadbeater speaks with a grim authority few possess. "Maybe for Australia this is your moment to think about what your politics looks like and how we can bring people together [and] find common ground," she told the ABC's 7:30. "That was something my sister was brilliant at and I would imagine it's something Helen is good at."

Leadbeater said she was "devastated for Helen and for her family, her friends, her colleagues, her staff," adding that she is "probably one of the few people, I suppose, that can understand a little bit of what they're going through." She also expressed frustration that the tenor and tone of UK politics had not changed in the decade since her sister's death. "I find it really frustrating that we're having the same conversation and every time something so horrific happens." While political debate should be robust, she said the slide toward coarseness and personal attacks is part of a broader societal trend: "Things don't happen in a vacuum and horrendous attacks and incidents like this don't happen in isolation. They are part of a wider culture around politics and society [and] we all have a role to play in that."

In Wodonga, parishioners gathered on Tuesday evening for a prayer vigil for Haines at St John's Anglican Church, lighting candles and praying as a group for her recovery, led by the Venerable Canon Scott Jessup, Archdeacon of the Hume. Some present were visibly upset. Among them was Dr Lachlan McKeeman, who trained under Haines and was endorsed by her as an independent candidate in the upcoming Victorian state election. "Helen is a much-loved friend and mentor of mine, and we've been advocating for our health service locally," he said. "She's the kind of person that would check in on doctors [to see] if they're OK after doing a press conference about the cultural issues at the [Albury-Wodonga] hospital." He said he still couldn't find the words to describe what happened to his friend while she "was at work serving her community." Wodonga mayor Michael Gobel, also at the vigil, said he admired Haines deeply: "I was gutted when the news came through … she's a person of incredible integrity."

Meanwhile, independent Tracee Hutchison announced she will not run in Victoria's state election in November, despite winning almost a quarter of first preferences at the May byelection, citing rising violence towards women. Speaking to AAP, Hutchison shared her distress for Haines and recalled her own experience of "a sustained, organised harassment and bullying campaign." "The verbal harassment I experienced, and that the women my team did, was unlike anything I had anticipated," she said, adding that she reported threats and feeling unsafe to the Victorian Electoral Commission every day during pre-polling. "There is no framework for the officers to do anything other than come out to the polling booth and tell everyone to behave. They then go back inside and people kick off again."

Haines's alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the commonwealth offence of causing harm to a commonwealth public official. He was held overnight to appear at Wangaratta magistrates court this morning at 9.30am, with Victoria police confirming in a statement that it will be alleged the attack was targeted. Before that, Victoria's police chief Mike Bush and AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett will give a press conference in Melbourne at 9am to brief on the investigation. We'll have all the developments as they happen.