 Barber co-founded the Australian Local Government Women's Association in 1951 and joined the Australian Labor Party in 1955, visiting China and Japan as a delegate in 1958.She ran unsuccessfully as a Labor candidate for the federal seat of Flinders in 1958 and 1963 and the state seat of Mentone in 1961 and 1967.She served on the 1959 peace congress committee in Melbourne and was a member of the Australian and New Zealand Congress for International Co-operation and Disarmament, the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria), the Union of Australian Women and the Aborigines Advancement League (Victoria).