We are so grateful to Mr Stuart Grimley MP for tabling our petition in Victorian Parliament, and continuing to support us in our efforts to achieve the petition's outcomes. We're sharing another important issue Mr. Grimley is pursuing on behalf of sexual abuse survivors, victims and their families.  Quoting the Herald Sun article of 9 July. "State government urged to do right thing

VICTIMS of child abuse which took place within government facilities are still being treated poorly by the state and deserve change and an apology, according to Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party. Party leader Stuart Grimley has called on Premier Daniel Andrews to apologise to victims of historical abuse in schools, health and correctional centres.

Mr Grimley has also called on the Andrews government to improve its approach to compensation claims and make sure it was a “model” in litigation cases after horrifying tales of court battles that hurt victims even further.

This means that lawyers and officials working for the state behave ethically by paying legitimate claims, keeping costs to a minimum and not taking advantage of the fact that someone making a claim may not be able to finance a long court battle.

Mr Grimley said his office had been inundated with personal examples where the state – particularly the Department of Education – had not acted within these guidelines. This included delaying court proceedings for up to five years and settling cases just days before getting to court. Some survivors have likened this to being abused by the courts too.

Other states have apologised to victims of institutional abuse, and a federal apology – by former prime minister Scott Morrison – has been made.

But advocates say Victoria must make its own apology, with 1639 applications made for compensation from state government institutions. Mr Grimley said while the state government had made “significant law reform” in Victoria around child safety following the royal commission, the Premier still had a duty to apologise to victims.

“(Law reform) doesn’t exempt them from taking ownership of and acknowledging the failures of consecutive state governments that led to – and in some cases, enabled – the abuse of thousands of children,” he said.

“Most other states have apologised or have pledged to in the near future. Victoria should make this commitment as a matter of urgency, to enable a healing process for victim-survivors and families.”

Mr Grimley said he had spoken to “countless” victims that had been dragged through the courts in a bid to secure financial compensation.

“To me, it’s an open and shut case where the government should just pay up,” he said. “Pushing victim-survivors through the courts is retraumatising and disgraceful. The government needs to start abiding by its own model litigant guidelines.”

In a written response to parliament on the issues, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said the government expected departments to follow the
guidelines of a model litigant, but “compliance is primarily the responsibility of the department or agency involved”.