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.
