Calls for Queensland private schools to return millions in JobKeeper payments

Brisbane Grammar School pocketed more than $3m in JobKeeper yet made a $3.5m surplus. It’s one of a number of Queensland private schools being told to return the pandemic payments.

Debate is raging over whether several elite Queensland private schools should return millions of dollars in JobKeeper payments after posting significant profits.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh has called on private schools who stayed in the green to return the taxpayer handouts they received in 2020 during the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among them was Brisbane Grammar School, which pocketed more than $3 million in JobKeeper, and posted a $3.5 million surplus last year.

Headmaster Anthony Micallef also pocketed a pay rise to see his salary climb to $539,000.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh is calling for Queensland private schools to return JobKeeper payments. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Dr Leigh this week questioned why private schools received such significant sums when universities – many of which were forced to fire hundreds of employees during the pandemic – were ineligible, and said taxpayers would be “scratching their heads”.

“JobKeeper was meant to help struggling organisations hold on to staff they’d otherwise have to fire,” he told The Courier-Mail.

”It was never meant to pad profits.”

He also accused schools of using the money to partially fund “significant building works” and contribute to staff pay rises.

“Schools that received JobKeeper while increasing their profits should think about whether they’re acting according to the values they teach,” Dr Leigh said.

“At a time when many are battling to pay the bills, why is Scott Morrison writing multimillion-dollar cheques to elite private schools?”

Brisbane Grammar School pocketed $3 million in JobKeeper payments.

Other Queensland Grammar schools to receive JobKeeper payments included Rockhampton Grammar School ($5.7 million in JobKeeper payments), Ipswich Grammar School ($2.8 million), Toowoomba Grammar School ($4.1 million) and Rockhampton Girls’ Grammar School ($1.1 million).

All schools posted a profit in 2020.

Mr Micallef has previously stated the school’s eligibility for the scheme prevented job losses, and that the school operated without the financial backing of a broader church or government school system.