PHOTOGRAPHIC flashes reflected off the wall and television cameramen jostled for the best position as the Victorian election campaign rolled into a nondescript Warrnambool office last week.

Candidates including Premier Denis Napthine formed an orderly line in the Victorian Electoral Commission shopfront as the returning officer made a few introductory remarks ahead of the ballot draw.

All eyes were on the computer projection which revealed, in a click of a mouse button, where the six candidates would be placed on the South West Coast ballot.

Only four candidates were in the gaze of the cameras. Country Alliance contender Steve Moore was outside in Fairy Street waiting for one of his supporters.

Another candidate was inside the room — among the journalists, well-wishers and electoral officials — although few noticed at the time. Warrnambool woman Linda Smith had made a last-minute decision to throw her hat into the ring after many months of weighing up the options.

The day before, she placed her deposit and entered the draw.

“It was a big decision. It was a fair bit of money for someone like me who knows what it’s like to always be on a budget,” the 34-year-old said.

The mother of seven children is candid about her life’s tribulations but sees herself as a generally positive person.

Originally from the Bendigo region, Ms Smith grew up on an apple farm and attended Eaglehawk Secondary College.

She worked in a supermarket delicatessen after leaving school, studied for a time at TAFE and also worked in several milk bars.

But it was memories of her time at Eaglehawk Secondary, and one of the friends she met while studying algebra and home economics two decades ago, that has influenced Ms Smith to make a political stand.

She attended school with Fiona Warzywoda, a girl she called “Fuzzy” due to her frizzy teenage hair. The name was to dramatically re-appear in Ms Smith’s life when watching television in April this year.

Ms Warzywoda was allegedly stabbed to death by her abusive de-facto husband in the middle of a busy Sunshine shopping strip in Melbourne’s western suburbs. She had been at Sunshine Magistrates Court that morning over a family violence order in place against her de-facto husband of 18 years, Craig McDermott, before he allegedly stabbed her with a fishing knife. The brutality of Ms Warzywoda’s death captured the headlines and shocked her old school friend.

Ms Smith said that incident was one of the main factors that drew her to the political sphere, much like recently-named Victorian of the Year Rosie Batty.

If that wasn’t reason enough, Ms Smith herself is also a domestic violence survivor.

“I prefer calling myself a survivor of domestic violence rather than a victim,” she said. “When I saw what happened to Fiona, I thought enough is enough. She was such a beautiful girl, lovely personality. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. No one deserves to be treated that way.”

Ms Smith lived with an abusive partner for 18 months and speaks openly about the abuse and oppression she endured. He is now serving time in jail.

“I was beaten, I was raped — before and after pregnancy. I was literally a prisoner in my own home,” she said.

“A lot of it has to do with being a coward. I would have to call debt collectors because my ex was too weak to call them himself. I realise that now.”

Ms Smith said she wanted to make her story public and stand for office in order to shine a light on a social ill that often occurs behind closed doors.

She said wider society needed to be less judgmental about women subjected to domestic violence and be more willing to extend a helping hand.

“I used to be one of those people that said ‘why doesn’t she just leave him?’ 

“But I know it’s not as simple as that. 

“There are many reasons why a woman chooses to stay or go, but we need to talk about what’s happening.

“Every five days, a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner. I think sometimes that I had a guardian angel because I’m still here to tell my story.”