I am disturbed by comments today from Braddon by-election candidate, Craig Garland, where it appears he has admitted to, and is now attempting to justify, assaulting a woman in Geelong in 1994.
Violence against women is never OK and can never be justified.
To tackle this issue we need the entire community to understand that violence is not OK.
Mr Garland has also reportedly said that he would do the same thing again if he found himself in similar circumstances.
If Mr Garland wants to be a leader amongst his community, he needs to stand up and say categorically and without trying to justify his behaviour, that violence against women is never OK.
It is unacceptable that Labor’s candidate, Justine Keay, who dodged questions about Mr Garland's actions today, did not condemn Mr Garland’s behaviour.
If the leaders of our community don’t stand up and call out this behaviour then it sets a terrible example.