WANGARATTA, Oct. 19 -- Helen Haines once led midwifery services at Wangaratta Hospital. On Monday afternoon the independent member of parliament was struck by a car outside her electorate office in the same north-eastern Victorian town, and police say she was taken to hospital with critical injuries.

Police believe a white Toyota Landcruiser hit the 65-year-old woman on Murphy Street at about 3.35pm. The driver, a 43-year-old man from nearby Tarrawingee, was arrested at the scene by a passer-by after he got out. Officers seized a knife from inside the vehicle. Haines's website lists her electorate office at 117 Murphy Street, the same street police named.

The question that matters is whether this was a crime against a person or an attac...