Glen Fearnett who was a victim of sexual abuse as a child is speaking about historic child sexual abuse in Victorian public schools.

During Fearnett’s time at Beaumaris primary school, in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, At least three teachers on staff were abusing children. The number of former students coming forward is still rising.

Despite this, the government and department of education have never publicly apologised to victims. Instead, it has pursued what has been described as an “aggressive” defence of civil claims, dragging out proceedings and upsetting victims in the process.

“We’ve been trying for a very long time with pretty much no response. Silence."

“No one wants to talk to us.”

Hundreds of victims have applied to the national redress scheme. Of the 1,639 applications made to the scheme as of May 2022 concerning abuse in Victorian government settings, 318 were related to schools. As it currently stands, they don’t feel seen, heard or believed by the government.

Lawyer John Rule from Maurice Blackburn is handling several cases against the department on behalf of Beaumaris primary victims. He said the education department had developed a reputation for being “aggressive” in defending claims.

“They run these cases like an insurance company would and they use all sorts of strategies and gamesmanship,” Rule said, adding that his firm has given up trying to resolve matters outside of court.

“They’ll either drag their feet for so long that you end up wasting six months waiting for them to respond … And if they do, they come along and make offensive offers or make no offer.

“It just ends up being a total waste of time and it upsets the victims unnecessarily.”

In September 2022, Justice party MP Stuart Grimley called for the premier to publicly apologise to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse within government schools between the 1960s and 1990s. Grimley then lost his seat in the parliament two months later.