In a secret meeting as Victoria’s budget was being announced, the full scale of the historical abuse of children in state care – and its impact on the government’s finances – was being laid bare.
Though much was made of the budget’s flagship announcement of $400 for every public school student, costing $287m, a similar amount will be spent paying victims of institutional care via civil claims and a redress scheme that, until Tuesday, the government had only committed $7.5m to.
One of the people in room, Leonie Sheedy, says the money couldn’t come soon enough.
“At the meeting on Tuesday, when they said they had funded redress, I told them, ‘Great. Now please hurry up and do it before we all cark it,’” the 70-year-old told Guardian Australia.