What was claimed
Facebook posts include authentic quotes about the alleged attack on Helen Haines.
Our verdict
False. The quotes are fabricated.
AAP FACTCHECK - A Vietnamese Facebook page posing as an Australian news source is posting fake quotes about injured MP Helen Haines.
The fabricated quotes are attributed to the MP's family members, friends and people who witnessed Dr Haines being struck by a vehicle in an allegedly deliberate attack.
Dr Haines had both her legs amputated but is now in a stable condition.
The SixtyOne News Facebook page has posted numerous updates about the incident, which occurred outside her office in Wangaratta, northern Victoria, on October 19.
An October 25 post claims to include a quote from Dr Haines' husband, Phil Haines, who gave a media statement at The Alfred Hospital on October 21.
"I watched our entire world crumble right before me,” the post quotes Mr Haines as saying.
However, Mr Haines never said this during his comments to the media.
He confirmed that Dr Haines required a double amputation and thanked first responders, hospital staff, and other supporters.
The quote attributed to him in the Facebook post does not appear in an ABC News video of the six-minute statement he made at the hospital.
The Facebook posts encourage users to click through to an ad-laden website that repeats the fabricated quote.
Meta transparency information shows the SixtyOne News Facebook page is operated by users from Vietnam.
Other SixtyOne News posts feature fake quotes from local barber Ricky Jefferies, who witnessed the alleged attack.
"In a shocking turn of events, Ricky Jefferies has broken the silence to expose an agonizing truth that no one saw coming,” one post says.
It then quotes Mr Jefferies as saying: “I couldn't save her from terror!"
Another post by the page claims Mr Jefferies said Dr Haines’ “terrifying cries still haunt me every night".
But a search of his public statements and comments after the attack finds no record of him saying this.
Mr Jefferies was interviewed by multiple news outlets, where he described the scene and how he intervened to pull the alleged attacker from the vehicle.
He told the media he was humbled and grateful to have been able to help.
Another post claims to reveal the first words Dr Haines said after waking up in hospital.
"As reported by ABC News, independent MP Allegra Spender broke down in parliament to reveal the first words spoken by Helen Haines after waking up from life-saving surgeries," the caption reads.
"'I saw his face clearly': Helen Haines speaks upon waking after brutal truck a**ack," the caption of an image in the post reads.
While Ms Spender did speak about Dr Haines in parliament, Hansard transcripts show she did not say Dr Haines’s first words were “I saw his face clearly”.
“Phil told us about your first words when you woke up after the attack,” Ms Spender said in parliament.
“Your first concerns when you awoke were for your staff and gratitude to the first responders, nurses and bystanders," Ms Spender said.
“That exactly speaks to the character of who you are."
Multiple other foreign-run Facebook pages publishing clickbait about Australian current affairs have shared similar fabricated quotes relating to the alleged attack.
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