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By Lynda McRae
Aug. 1, 2013, midnight
Angela Barker, the victim of a brutal attack eleven years ago by a former partner, travels with
her parents to various sessions aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence. This week
they addressed Kurnai College students. photograph bryan petts-jones
She said drug and alcohol abuse was no excuse for violence, adding "we all know right from
wrong".
Monash University Gippsland lecturer Dr Chris Laming has spearheaded multiple genderbased violence initiatives and insisted it was vital "every male bystander challenges men's
abuse when they see it or hear it".
Speaking to The Express yesterday he said "men do violence because their mates let them,"
adding "a strong justice response matters but the mates matter more".
Referring to a stance by high-profile men in the media over past weeks supporting the cause
to end violence against women, Dr Laming said while that was important, the White Ribbon
"not violent, not silent" campaign applied to all men.
In the past week Quantum Support Services chief executive Alan Wilson, a local White
Ribbon ambassador, joined the chorus of male voices calling on men to "reflect on their own
behaviours and attitudes towards women" and challenge the so-called "cultural norms that
devalue women".
Gippsland Women's Health Service chief executive Jodie Pullman said "leadership and
advocacy work by male community members" was integral to the regional strategy led by
GWHS and aimed at preventing men's violence against women.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester, another White Ribbon Ambassador, lent his
support to the cause, saying "we need to be telling our sons about healthy relationships and
how to respect girls and women... violence against women is never acceptable".
The message is, however, perhaps best delivered by those whose lives have been irreversibly
impacted.
In the movie graphically detailing the fate of his then athletic, attractive 16 year-old daughter,
Ian Barker said "I can't handle what happened to my girl that night".
This week in the Valley he continued his fight to protect other people's girls, with Angela by
his side