The barber dubbed a hero for intervening in an apparently deliberate attack on federal MP Helen Haines says he was thinking of his family at the moment he stepped in.

Haines, 65, was outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, in Victoria’s north, when she was struck by a vehicle, causing critical injuries.

The independent member for Indi was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital after the incident, which happened about 3.35pm on Monday.

Ricky Jeffries was working at his nearby barber shop when he saw the incident and stepped in to apprehend the driver.

Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday he saw the alleged offender with a knife.

”He didn’t pull it out,” he said.

“I just wasn’t comfortable with his movements and so I basically just took it out of his pocket and threw it away.”

Federal leaders have labelled Jeffries a hero, but the barber insisted he was just one of many people playing their role as the emergency unfolded.

”I just was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way,” he said.

When asked what was going through his head at the time, he replied: ”My wife will be disappointed if I’m injured.”

His family and community were front of mind, the barber said.

”I was just trying to not get injured and not let anyone else be injured after the initial incident,” he said.

The attack on Helen Haines is being investigated by counter-terrorism authorities. Photo: AAP

People were going about their business in Wangaratta on Tuesday morning under a gloomy, grey sky.

Cars were stopping for well-wishers to deliver tributes at the MP’s office, while the media descended on the regional centre’s main street.

Haines’ state political colleague, Nationals MP Tim McCurdy, said he was out of town about to make a pre-election announcement when he heard of the attack.

The member for the Victorian parliamentary seat of Ovens Valley said he drove six hours home when he got the news.

“I spent 5.9 of those hours on the phone, just talking to people and … trying to piece together what happened,” he told AAP.

“We still don’t know why.”

He said the man arrested over the incident, a 43-year-old from the nearby town of Tarrawingee, had also visited his electorate office.

But he said he and his staff had not felt threatened by him.

“It wasn’t a situation like that, (it was) another constituent coming in with issues as we do every day,” McCurdy said.

“But the fact that Helen walks down the street and this happens … that’s wrong on so many levels.”

Locals Emma and Neil told ABC News Breakfast they knew Haines both as a politician and a highly valued member of the community.

Neil said she was a role model for other politicians.

”She listens to people, she responds to people and I can’t see why someone would get so upset about something that they would do such a thing,” he said.

“It’s just shocking.”