Shock number of sex abuse claims at Victorian schools

Hundreds of students have come forward to make shocking sexual abuse claims against nearly 200 Victorian schools. See the list.

Hundreds of Victorians are pursuing historic child abuse claims. Picture: Ian Currie

Almost 300 former students of 180 Victorian schools are pursuing historic child abuse claims, with each victim potentially due to receive a multimillion-dollar payout.

These include claims against more than 70 state schools, ­revealed here for the first time.

Premier Daniel Andrews will apologise to victims and is open to expanding an inquiry into historic abuse at Beaumaris Primary to investigate claims from other schools.

Experts say this is likely given 34 other state primary schools face claims from one law firm alone – Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers.

They include Hallam, Beaumaris, Boronia Heights, Brunswick West, East Ringwood, Footscray, Myrniong, Spotswood, Templestowe, Surrey Hills and Thomastown primary schools. The firm also represents past students of 37 state high schools, including Lilydale High, Mansfield Secondary College, Maroondah High, Sandringham Secondary College, Templestowe College and Rosebud High.

Principal lawyer Kim Price said his firm was “working with hundreds of clients who as children endured severe sexual, physical and psychological abuse throughout their formative years that have had a profound impact on the rest of their lives”.

Mr Price said there had been “inherent failures in systems and policies within some schools to enable the notification and prevention of sexual and physical abuse”.

Though much of its evidence centred on religious schools, the child abuse royal commission found 44 per cent of the abuse reported occurred at government schools.

A spokeswoman for Premier Daniel Andrews said he would “make a formal apology in parliament on the government’s behalf to survivors of abuse in government schools”.

“We launched the Board of Inquiry to investigate known instances of historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary because of its unique and tragic circumstances,” she said.

Premier Daniel Andrews will make a formal apology in parliament. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We were always clear that if other similar situations come to light we are open to expanding the inquiry.”

The Beaumaris Primary inquiry, announced in June, will establish a public record of victim-survivors of staff at the school in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr Price also warned survivors to be “wary of the government’s redress scheme as it offers a cap of $150,000 to individual victims, whilst civil litigation with the support of a specialist abuse lawyer can provide millions in compensation to the individual”.

He welcomed an apology from the Premier but said it was “only one part of an approach to address the failures which have run rampant across Victorian schools”.

One victims’ advocate told the Herald Sun that sexually abusive teachers were “moved around to other state schools”.

“You never knew where they would end up next,” he said.

Three brothers from one family have been devastated by childhood sexual abuse at the same primary school. Picture: Ian Currie

The three perpetrators at Beaumaris worked at other government schools.

Sandringham Liberal MP Brad Rowswell said abuse claims went “way beyond just Beaumaris Primary”.

“We don’t want victims from a school in Ballarat, for instance, told their allegations are outside of the scope of the inquiry,” he said.

Former Justice Party MP Stuart Grimley discovered through a freedom of information claim that almost 400 civil claims in 12 years had been made against the state government for historic child sexual abuse in its schools.

Beaumaris Primary School victim-survivor Glen Fearnett said: “The Education Department is way better at dealing with these cases now, however, there are skeletons in closets that no one has addressed.”

The list of claimants represented by Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers is dominated by Catholic colleges as well as a number of non-Catholic private grammar schools.

The schools with the most current cases brought by the firm include Brighton Grammar and Christian Brothers’ College (now Emmanuel College) both with 12, and Rosebud High School with eight.