By Kieran Rooney and Clay Lucas
A surge in historical sexual abuse claims against the state government have driven a rapid jump in Victoria’s legal liabilities over seven months as victim advocates criticise the state’s rollout of a $165 million redress scheme.
Victoria’s mid-year budget update shows the state’s total legal liabilities rose to $411 million, up $74 million from $337 million in May 2024.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan apologises to victims of historical abuse in February 2024.Credit: Chris Hopkins
This figure measures the potential payouts the state has estimated it may have to make from legal proceedings and disputes that are currently underway.
The Allan government confirmed to The Age the growing legal bill is mainly driven by an increase in historical sexual abuse claims made against the state between May and the budget update in December.
In 2024, a board of inquiry report found the Department of Education “woefully” failed to protect children from sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School and other government schools between 1960 and 1994, identifying systemic failures.
Accepting the board’s recommendations, the state committed $165 million for a redress scheme, and Premier Jacinta Allan gave an emotional apology in parliament.
The legal liabilities go beyond the cost of redress and relate to ongoing civil claims involving the state. Since the board of inquiry’s report, law firms have asked victims to come forward to seek compensation and some have even mulled a class action.
In October 2024, a Beaumaris abuse survivor was awarded an $8 million settlement by the Victorian education department, believed to be one of the largest payouts of its kind.
“We can never undo the damage that was done, but we can help people heal by telling the truth – and making sure it never happens again,” a state government spokesperson said.
“We have been working with victim-survivors, their families, supporters, affected communities and key agencies to continue supporting those who experienced historical sexual abuse in Victorian government schools.”
Victims who take up the Victorian scheme are not required to sign a deed of release, exempting them from further civil action, when accepting redress, which includes a payment of $20,000 and access to up to 20 counselling sessions.
But Care Leavers Australasia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said the $165 million program was inadequate.
She said the $20,000 payment was less than other redress programs and that the state was taking too long to approve and provide cash to victims. “The Victorian scheme is only opened for 18 months. We’ve already lost three months,” Sheedy said.
“We need to know, are you going to pay these victims, or are you waiting for us to cark it?”
Sheedy said the oldest person she had lodged a claim for had been 97.
“They need to go back to the drawing board, get us in the room and ask how we can improve this,” she said.
Asked about these concerns, a government spokesperson said they were working as fast as possible to deliver redress.
“No amount of money can ever undo or make up for what happened, but we can acknowledge the wrongs of the past and support people to address the impacts of abuse and neglect on their lives,” the spokesperson said.
The $20,000 figure was determined, following advice, to allow as many people as possible to access the scheme, the government says.
Applications opened in December 2024, but $10,000 advance payments were made available to people who were terminally or critically ill.
The scheme also includes a “restorative engagement process” which will include an apology or acknowledgment from government institutions where abuse took place.
The board of inquiry’s report made nine recommendations, including a statewide public apology to acknowledge historical child sexual abuse in government schools and a memorial related to child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School. It also called for a statewide truth-telling process for victim-survivors from all government schools and relevant non-government schools, and public record of victim-survivors’ experiences.
In response to the rapid jump in claims against the Victorian government from survivors of historical sexual abuse at public schools, The Age late last year asked the Department of Education, under freedom-of-information laws, for all records of payments in the past decade.
Rather than respond to the request, an Education Department spokesman issued a list of payments by financial year made by the government to those who had made claims.
“We have been working with victim-survivors, their families, supporters, affected communities and key agencies to continue supporting those who experienced historical sexual abuse in Victorian government schools,” the spokesman said.
Physical punishment was banned in Victorian government schools in 1983, and banned in all Victorian schools in 2006.
The Age is awaiting a formal response to its original FOI request for data on payouts by the Education Department over the last decade.
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