Beaumaris Primary School sexual abuse survivor reaches record $8 million settlement with Victorian government

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian government has agreed, to what's believed to be, a record settlement to a survivor of child sexual abuse at a primary school in Melbourne's southeast.

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00:00The $8 million settlement comes just a week before this claim was due to be heard before

00:06the Victorian Supreme Court.

00:08It's really just the latest in the decades-long fallout from the education department's mishandling

00:14of these pedophile teachers that were at state schools around Victoria in the 60s and 70s.

00:21The victim in this instance suffered abuse under the librarian and sports coach Darrell

00:27Ray, a notorious pedophile, at the Beaumaris Primary School in that period.

00:31The victim here, one of a whole generation of students at the school who suffered abuse

00:37from a number of pedophile teachers that were stationed there.

00:41Prompting an inquiry recently into the incident and the abuse suffered by dozens of students

00:46at that school and at other state schools in Victoria, the inquiry finding there were

00:52appalling and systemic failures in the way the education department handled the incidents,

00:57in some cases moving the teachers around to other schools even after the abuse claims

01:02came to light, with the overall view that the education department was prioritising

01:07its own reputation over student welfare.

01:11Lawyers for the man who's received this payout from the education department say they believe

01:15it's the largest publicly known payout of its kind to a survivor of sexual abuse in

01:21Australia and the man involved has encouraged other people who have suffered to come forward

01:27and continue fighting for compensation.

01:30There is an ongoing truth-telling process happening in Victoria now for any survivors

01:34of sexual abuse at state schools over any period and that's running over the next two

01:39years due to wrap up in 2026.

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