Scrutiny overdue on pedophilia in our state schools
The apology promised by Daniel Andrews to survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools will finally be delivered by Premier Jacinta Allan this year.
Later in the year, Allan will deliver a second apology – this one to survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. This will follow the board of inquiry report, chaired by Kathleen Foley SC, into historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools, which is due to be delivered by the end of the month.
Daniel Andrews, the former Victorian Labor premier, promised in February 2023 to make a formal apology to survivors of institutional sexual abuse, including that which occurred in state government schools. However, he resigned from politics before doing so.
The very existence of the Foley board of inquiry underlies the failure of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by Peter McClellan KC, which ran for five years from 2013 to 2017. The McClellan royal commission undertook 57 case studies during which he heard evidence of historical child sexual abuse within institutions.
Despite the extension of two years (from the original three years) along with a staff of around 300 at any one time and a budget of some $372m, McClellan and his team did not do a case study of pedophilia in one government school. Not one.
Moreover, it spent little time on other government institutions. This despite the fact that the letters patent gave McClellan “wide scope” with respect to his investigations.
The prime focus of the royal commission was Catholic and other Christian schools. Writing in these pages on August 19, 2017, Professor Greg Craven focused on the royal commission’s obsession with “the Catholics”, commenting: “The rule is, if an inquiry gives the impression it is about one subject, the public will take it at its word.”
And so it came to pass – with most complaints coming with respect to Christian institutions. It was only after the royal commission concluded that a large number of complainants emerged alleging they had been sexually abused in government schools.
In September, the Foley inquiry was set up to examine the actions of multiple male staff members at Beaumaris Primary in the 1960s and 1970s. In time, this was extended to 24 schools where the teachers also worked.
It is impossible to believe that the only pedophile teachers in the Victorian education system at the time were confined to Beaumaris Primary and a few other schools. In view of this, the scope of the Foley inquiry is quite limited.
On November 17, Jenny Atta, secretary of the Victorian Department of Education, appeared before the Foley inquiry. She apologised for her department’s “catastrophic failures” in protecting children who suffered historical sexual abuse in government schools between the 1960s and 1990s.
The McClellan royal commission was not the only inquiry to overlook government schools, even though it had terms of reference to do so. In April 2012, Ted Baillieu’s Coalition government in Victoria set up the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Institutions.
Beaumaris Primary is of special interest. As John Ferguson reported in these pages on September 18, eight-year-old Eloise Worledge disappeared from her home in January 1976.
Victoria Police was of the view that she left the house in the company of an adult. Eloise has never been seen since and is presumed dead. She attended Beaumaris Primary, where there was a nest of pedophile teachers.
George Pell set up the Melbourne Response in late 1996, shortly after he became Catholic archbishop of Melbourne in July 1996, to deal with pedophilia in the Catholic Church. In contrast, it took the Victorian Education Department until 2023 to formally address this issue. Priest and author Frank Brennan explained the formation of the Melbourne Response in a recent speech to The Sydney Institute during the question period. It can be located on the Institute’s website.
The McClellan royal commission was also a failure with respect to Tasmania – as I have commented previously. It did two case studies in the state. One into The Hutchins School, a Christian institution with links to the Anglican Church. The other into the Church of England Boys’ Society.
McClellan did not inquire into any government schools in the state. The gap was filled by the Tasmanian government (after the McClellan commission wound up), which set up the Smallbone-McCormack inquiry. It found evidence of widespread pedophilia in government schools. For example, one male teacher was moved from school to school as his crimes were covered up. In time he pleaded guilty and was jailed. There were many such cases.
The Tasmanian government also set up an inquiry headed by former judge Marcia Neave into such government institutions as Launceston General Hospital and the Ashley Youth Detention Centre. The Neave inquiry also looked at government schools. It found the cover-up of attacks by pedophiles on boys and girls in Tasmanian government institutions going back decades.
The February 2024 edition of The Monthly contains a 10,000-word article by Nick Feik. It all but ignored government schools and focused on Launceston General Hospital and the Ashley Youth Detention Centre for boys (which also housed a few girls). Like Atta, Feik used the word “catastrophic” to describe abuse of young people and the cover-up by state bureaucracies.
It is easy to focus on pedophilia in religious institutions, sporting bodies and the like. But a real failure in this area turned on the inability or unwillingness of governments to act against pedophiles within state schools. Unfortunately, the McClellan royal commission was not fit for purpose in this instance.
However, the recent inquiries in Tasmania went well. It remains to be seen what the Foley inquiry will find and whether it will recommend a wider remit than a mere 24 schools in the large Victorian education system. Then the apology promised by Andrews for 2023 will be delivered by Allan in 2024.
Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.
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Next Thursday Jacinta Allan, the Labor Premier of Victoria, will deliver an apology on behalf of the Victorian government to care leavers who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care in Victoria. Care leavers are classified as persons who spent time in care as a child.