Published: 7 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Final submissions heard in federal court case after school’s leadership and teachers deny claims of bullying.
The leadership at Melbourne’s Brighton Secondary College has been accused of a “dereliction of duty” on the final day of a court case in which it is alleged they failed to protect five Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination and bullying.
The federal court on Thursday heard the closing submissions in the case brought by the five former students, who are suing the state of Victoria and the government-funded high school for negligence and failing to protect them as Jewish students from racial discrimination.
The plaintiffs allege their former school and the state of Victoria failed in their obligations under Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act and the UN convention on the rights of the child.
The respondents deny all allegations.
Barrister Adam Butt, representing the former students, told the court the alleged failure of the high school principal and teachers to act on his clients’ complaints equated to a “dereliction of duty”.
Chris Young KC, acting for the school and the state of Victoria, argued the defence had not properly outlined what steps should have been taken.
However, Butt pointed to submissions on expulsion and restorative justice principle as possible courses of action.
“They didn’t do anything in any cases … It’s not a question of what they should have done. It’s a question of they should have done something,” Butt told the court.
The former students – brothers Matt and Joel Kaplan, Liam Arnold-Levy, Guy Cohen and Zack Snelling – allege they experienced antisemitic bullying, discrimination and negligence at the school between 2013 and 2020. The students’ claims have been denied by the respondents – the principal, Richard Minack, teachers Paul Varney and Demi Flessa, and the state of Victoria.
