ABC investigative journalist Russell Jackson continues to cover the horrific scale of historic child sexual abuse in Victorian government schools. Yesterday the ABC published online how the Board of Inquiry barely scratched the surface of the offending. Read the full article online via the following link:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-27/beaumaris-primary-inquiry-scratches-surface-of-paedophile-crisis/103503912
"One survivor has called it “mind-boggling” and “beyond belief”.
A lawyer for victims says it was “calculated” and “covered up, just like in the Catholic Church”. And on Monday, a small but important step was taken in addressing the Victorian Department of Education’s historical child sexual abuse crisis.
After six months examining decades of crimes against students in state-run schools, the government-initiated inquiry leading the investigation delivered its findings to the Victorian governor. The government has not said when it will make the report and its response public.
Warning: This story contains references to child sexual abuse
Although the inquiry has uncovered shocking evidence during public hearings that the Victorian Education Department knowingly shuffled paedophile teachers around the state and endangered children, its scope was limited to a cluster of offenders who taught at Beaumaris Primary School in Melbourne’s bayside south-east.
Active civil claims and convictions suggest that more than 100 government schools may be affected.
Survivors, advocates and lawyers have claimed the inquiry was only ever going to scratch the surface of a statewide crisis that was at its worst between the 1960s and 1990s. They say it needs to be broadened."
Last night the ABC 7.30 program included more coverage, you can watch Russell Jackson's report from 12.21 via iview, click on the following link.
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2401H030S00
Today the ABC has just published another article by Russell Jackson, summary and link to the article, follows.
- "Peter Gerrard Jackman was accused of sexually abusing at least 10 girls at a school in Melbourne's north in 1969 and 1970, according to a former principal's unpublished memoir.
- Jackman resigned and later carried on his teaching career in Queensland.
- What's next? A woman who alleges she was sexually abused by Jackman has launched legal action against the Victorian government."
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While we wait for the Victorian government to publically release the report of Board of Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools, ABC's Russell Jackson's continued investigations helps put pressure on the Victorian government.
To not only implement in full all the recommendations the Board of Inquiry make, but also existing recommendations the Victorian government has failed to implement in full, or not at all.
Yesterday Sexual Assault Services Victoria published on social media:
"The Beaumaris Inquiry Report was handed to the Vic Government yesterday. We are watching the government's response in hope that it will result in comprehensive, systemic change for survivors of institutional, historic child sexual abuse. Many recommendations from the important 2021 Victorian Law Reform Commission report still haven't been implemented. We hope there is a clear response to the Beaumaris Inquiry Report."
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Yesterday we emailed the Office of the Victorian Premier, urging that survivors, families and community members be engaged in the all important 'how' and 'what' of the implementation of any initiatives, including the Board of Inquiry recommendations. True to form, our emails to the Victorian government continue to be met with silence.
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