INSIDE TOD DA AY
REMEMBRANCE
DAY
See page 3 today or go to www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au
PAGE 11
21 GEORGE STREET, ET, T MORWELL 3840
TELEPHONE 0351354444
WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER, 2025
17
SHOWER OR TWO
www.latrobevalleyexpress.ccom.au
25
24
SHOWER OR TWO
CLOUDY
$2.00 inc. GST
18
SHOWERS
Labor’s shout Free travel on the Gippsland Line has commenced. For the month of November, V/Line passengers boarding between Nar Nar Goon and Bairnsdale won’t be charged.
DETAILS - PAGE 8 File photograph
FEARS FOR AGL JOBS PAGE 6
DEPARTMENT TAKEN TO TASK ABUSE VICTIMS SEEK COMPENSATION
By AIDAN KNIGHT
WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual abuse and assault that may be distressing to some readers. Support is available by contacting 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or the Victims of Crime Helpline on 1800 819 817. LATROBE Valley residents are facing unsettling reminders of past failings in the education system, as six former students of the now-imprisoned teacher Peter Farmer brought legal proceedings against the Victorian Department of Education (VDE) last month for alleged negligence in failing to stop his longrunning abuse of children at a local primary school. Not to be confused with the Trafalgar resident (and 2021 Trafalgar Citizen of the Year) of the same name, Farmer was a teacher at Newborough Primary School and made infamous throughout the 1990s after his perpetrations of sexual abuse against his students was first revealed.
Farmer committed repeated sexual crimes while teaching from 1986 to 1988, violating students as young as eight-years-old. Concerns were first raised in July 1988 when a local milkbar attendant alleged to have seen Farmer acting inappropriately with a female student on the school oval. The attendant, given the pseudonym 'Claire Jones' during the court processes, informed the principal, at which point Farmer was told not to return to the school. The milkbar was located across the road from the school premises. Then-principal, Brian Rodgers informed the Education Department directly after learning of Farmer's actions from Ms Jones, who then provided him with a written statement of her account. Farmer then alarmingly left addressed parting gifts for several students in their desks, with corresponding notes, before fleeing the Latrobe Valley. Mr Rodgers maintains this was the first time anything inappropriate had been flagged against Farmer.
The crimes resurfaced publicly in 2019, when the Latrobe Valley Sexual Offences and Child Abuse squad received a formal report from a victim, triggering a new investigation into Farmer, now as historical sex crimes. He was located by Victoria Police, living in Queensland, in 2022, where he was then arrested, and pleaded guilty in April this year to 10 charges of sexual assault and gross indecency related to five victims. During the interview stage of his arrest, Farmer denied certain allegations on the record, while admitting others. He had been set to face these charges earlier in the year, but had fled once again, having to be tracked down and arrested by Victoria Police. Farmer attended most court sessions from prison via video link to the Victorian County Court in Bairnsdale, facing Judge Geoffrey Chettle, who detailed that all of Farmer's victims were girls, and that he "offended against your victim in the presence of other female students." Judge Chettle also saw that
DOWN SEE
PAGE 19
OF TODAY’S PAPER G
GP1686932
Farmer's potential risk of reoffending has reduced as he has aged. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of four-and-a-half. Ms Jones sees it to be more appropriate that he serve this length of sentence for each victim violated in his care, and it is only a fraction in comparison to the "life sentence" one survivor has described the impact of the abuse has had on her life. The same survivor described in a victim impact statement heard during the sentence hearing that "there ... has not been a day ... that I have not thought about, or felt the shadow of the abuse inflicted on me at school by Peter Farmer." Another described how "In order to try to block the memories ... I turned to alcohol," with devastating long-term consequences for herself and her family. A third victim described difficulty visiting a family member, whose house is near the school where she was abused. Continued - Page 3
SHEEPDOG TRIALS PAGE 27
DERBY DAY VALLEY SPORT