Legal bill in Brighton Secondary College racism case set to top $5m after Education Department refused to apologise

Taxpayers will be slugged up to $5m to defend student claims Brighton Secondary College ignored “Holocaust taunts” and swastika graffiti, despite the victims just wanting an apology.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins apologised to the boys on behalf of the Department of Education. Picture: David Geraghty

Education Department bureaucrats would have avoided years in court and up to $5m in legal costs if they had simply apologised to Jewish students who were the target of anti-semitic bullying at Brighton Secondary College, the Saturday Herald Sun can reveal.

The department repeatedly refused to publicly apologise to the group of five boys — brothers Joel and Matt Kaplan, Guy Cohen, Zach Snelling and Liam Arnold Levy — leaving them no option but to sue.

The case culminated on Thursday when Federal Court Chief Justice Deborah Mortimer ordered the state government to pay damages and compensation of $430,000, as well as $130,000 in legal fees.

The department’s legal fees — which it will not recover, having lost the case — amount to more than $2.1m.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal Joel and Matt Kaplan were willing to walk away their plans to sue the government in 2020 if they were offered an apology.

The school and department offered one in 2020, only to retract the offer shortly afterwards.

At trial, Matt Kaplan said the government’s refusal to apologise was “like rubbing salt into the cuts.”

“(Education department bureaucrat) Chris Thompson sent an apology to my email and about – approximately five minutes later retracted … that apology,” he said.

In 2016, four years before the Kaplan brothers complained about their mistreatment, Mr Arnold-Levy also requested an apology from the school.

“I didn’t get an apology,” he said. “I didn’t get recognition. I got excuses.”

Matt Kaplan leaving the Federal court. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Matt Kaplan with brother Joel Kaplan leaving the Federal court. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

In her judgment, Federal Court Chief Justice Deborah Mortimer was scathing of principal and co-defendant Richard Minack’s failure to properly apologise to the boys, even when offered the chance to do so in the witness box.

“He was offered a chance to do so in the witness box, and could not bring himself to do more than to say with hindsight he was sorry,” she said.

“There was no recognition of any failures on his part.”

Chief Justice Mortimer found Mr Minack “ignored and downplayed” antisemitic bullying claims, made students feel so “unsafe” they moved schools and led a team of teachers who allowed swastika graffiti to remain on tables, lockers and walls.

She said Mr Minack was “not prepared to be empathetic or sympathetic towards Jewish students, their families, or issues dealing with Jewish people.”

According to legal sources, the department’s legal bill, including “hidden costs” such as paying staff and internal lawyers to attend court, could reach $5m.

The court-ordered apology to the former students came only on Friday, in an email to students from the school’s Acting Principal Leisa Higgins apologised to the students in an email to parents on Friday.

“On behalf of the department and the school, we want to say as clearly as we can how deeply we regret that this occurred and to apologise to all those who suffered as a result,” she said.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins, said the department “deeply regret” the antisemitism the five former students endured.

“Every Victorian student deserves to feel safe and respected at school — we deeply regret the antisemitism experienced by students at Brighton Secondary College and apologise unreservedly,” she said.

A department spokesman told the Saturday Herald Sun it sought to resolve the claims before the case went to trial.