And what series of events led to another student having to apologise to the perpetrator for raising allegations against the teacher, how he had the benefit of a public notice effectively clearing his name, and then remained employed by the Education Department for over a decade?

Theses questions hung over the Thursday hearings of the Commission of Inquiry on Thursday as counsel assisting Elizabeth Bennett SC investigated the case of teacher 'Wayne' and victim 'Rachel' via questioning of current Education Department secretary Tim Bullard.

Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in Tasmania:

What emerged was an underlying failure to put the concerns of the children first, including allegations that seemed to vanish into thin air, breaches of department processes and an outcome that left a victim devastated.

Mr Bullard described the approach as "woefully inadequate".

Rachel's mother made a complaint about Wayne's inappropriate conduct, but during the next two years Rachel was afraid to fully disclose the extent of the abuse - until the moment, in 2007, when the department told her no code of conduct breach was found.

She then told investigators of inappropriate touching, kissing, love letters and how Wayne would show her dirty videos on a school computer. Because it occurred within school hours, only the videos matter was investigated further.

READ MORE: Education Department stands down more staff over 'matters of concern'

Rachel provided the allegations in writing to the investigators on May 7, 2007.

Nine days later, the investigators sent another email to the department where they spoke of a second student who had raised concerns about Wayne sending her sexual text messages. This student was made to apologise to Wayne after she called him a "paedophile".

This email also included information that Wayne had kissed another student, among other allegations.

Ms Bennett questioned why this email was not followed up.

"That email seems to have gone into a memory hole and not progressed at all, is that a fair summary?" she asked Mr Bullard, to which he replied, "yes".

When asked why this email did not trigger an investigation, Mr Bullard said it remained unclear.

"The file was reviewed by me as part of my review of historic allegations. To the best of my memory, there is no indication as to why they weren't proceeded with," he said.

A week after the email, the department's then-secretary John Smyth sent a letter to Wayne in which he said "all current investigations are now concluded" with "no formal sanction" applied.

"This letter serves as a formal instruction that you are not to place yourself in a position where your conduct and behaviour towards students could be deemed to be inappropriate," it reads.

Mr Bullard said it was unclear whether Rachel's new allegations, and those contained in the email, had reached Mr Smyth at this stage.

Two months later, the Education Department placed a notice in a local newspaper which publicly cleared Wayne, using his real name, and stating he had been appointed with the department.

Mr Bullard said this public notice was "horrifying", but he did not have information about who authorised it. He was asked whether Mr Smyth would have been aware of the additional allegations by then.

"On the timeline that you set out, yes," Mr Bullard said.

The Teachers Registration Board only became aware of the matter two months after this newspaper notice, and only when Wayne made an application to renew his registration. The department had not raised the matter.

The TRB asked the department for a report of the allegations, investigations and outcomes. The next day, the department sent a brief reply that the investigations "were recently concluded", and attached the letter it had sent to Wayne.

This was the only information provided.

READ MORE: Head to Health model will be expanded in Tasmania under $55m package announced by PM

Mr Bullard said this was another failure of process.

"For that letter to be comprehensive it would have and should have outlined that there were some other matters of concern which were currently being considered in terms of whether or not to proceed," he said.

That appeared to be the end of the matter at that time. Wayne continued to work with the department.

A new code of conduct investigation was opened against Wayne more than a decade after the case was considered closed by the department. This was part of its review of historical matters that had not gone through correct processes.

Mr Bullard said the immediate intention of the investigation was to ensure children were not at risk.

"We have put that energy and effort into ensuring that children and young people are not at risk from Wayne," he said.

"Whilst there may be matters that need to be investigated further in terms of the employees' actions, they are matters that we will deal with as secondary matters."

This means that the department has not yet investigated which of its employees were involved in not raising Rachel's new allegations, or those in the email.

Instead, Mr Bullard said the department intended to learn from these failings as it attempts to implement new policies and practices. He said all matters of this nature would be sent to him as secretary for determination, rather than deal with by others in the department.

READ MORE: Regeneration Australia aims to shine a light on the hopes and dreams of Australia

Ms Bennett pressed him on how he could be sure this was occurring, to which he replied there was a "clear expectation" in the department. He said the number of matters referred to him had increased from two in 2018, to dozens in the following years, as proof of a change of policy.

Despite this, TRB registrar Ann Moxham later told the commission they still encounter systemic problems in accessing information about teachers. She said it is "almost impossible" to know where relief teachers are based, and for how long - among other information sharing issues.

"It's pretty scary, isn't it," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: