The man accused of mowing down independent MP Helen Haines once praised her commitment to climate change, promoted her election campaign and shared appeals for donations.
But Brendan Nugent’s social media history reveals a former environmental campaigner who later became an outspoken critic of Israel and Australia’s response to the war in Gaza, circulating material defending Hamas and the Houthis while directing angry messages at senior ministers.
The 43-year-old from Tarrawingee, near Wangaratta, remains in police custody after allegedly using his Toyota LandCruiser to repeatedly ram Dr Haines outside her electorate office on Monday afternoon.
The 65-year-old mother-of-three suffered catastrophic lower-body injuries and was airlifted to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery and has reportedly lost a leg.
Nugent’s public X account, operating under the handle @NotLaoTzu, contains almost 11,000 posts dating back to August 2014, revealing years of environmental activism, political arguments and increasingly confrontational commentary about the Middle East.
Yet his documented exchanges with Dr Haines were neither threatening nor overtly hostile.
In October 2019, he praised the newly elected independent after she promoted an episode of the ABC’s Q+A program discussing climate change and the future of Australian farming.
“Would’ve been nice to include a politician who takes climate change seriously, such as yourself,” he wrote.
He also reposted her campaign announcement and fundraising appeals, and defended independent candidates against what he called “LNP-funded anti-independent propaganda”.
In June 2020, Nugent questioned Dr Haines about support for forestry workers.
“Hi Helen, what was the support given?” he asked.
His final identifiable direct reply to Dr Haines, on October 15, 2020, was “lol”.
Screenshots of Nugent’s account also show that Dr Haines and Greens senator David Shoebridge were among his followers.
Nugent’s profile describes him as a “Plant Person” who believes “The world should be run by dogs and children”.
Before the alleged attack, he had been involved in environmental campaigns against native forest logging in Victoria’s Strathbogie region.
He holds a Master of Forest Ecosystem Science from the University of Melbourne, according to The Guardian, and was formerly involved with conservation organisation Save Our Strathbogie Forest.
Group chairperson Bertram Lobert told the ABC Nugent had been an active member for about two years before the COVID-19 pandemic, travelling an hour from his Tarrawingee home to attend meetings.
“At the time he was an intensely intelligent man interested in the issues our group was interested in,” Mr Lobert said.
“He was a person who cared about the environment. He got on generally well with people.”
Mr Lobert said he had not heard from Nugent since that period and was shocked to learn of his arrest.
Nugent’s earlier social media activity was dominated by environmental causes, particularly opposition to native forest logging and criticism of Victorian forestry policy.
More to come....