The agency behind the North East Link tollway is refusing to reveal how much taxpayer money it has spent on payments to some of the state’s wealthiest private schools, despite publicly available annual reports showing one school pocketed at least $8 million.
The state government-run project, part of the Big Build, has been criticised by councillors and the opposition for a lack of transparency about the size of payments made to schools and businesses for the use and acquisition of land along the route, which will connect the M80 in Greensborough to the Eastern Freeway in Bulleen from 2028.
Construction site for the North East Link at Trinity Grammar, Bulleen.Credit: Chris Hopkins
The cost of the North East Link, the largest and most expensive road project in the state’s history, has exploded to $26 billion. That figure is $10 billion more than the previously estimated cost of the project, which is jointly funded by state and federal governments.
High-fee boys’ school Trinity Grammar has a 63-acre sport complex in Bulleen, which has football, tennis, soccer, rugby, hockey, cricket and archery facilities. The government is renting about 26 per cent of this property, which is more than four times the size of the MCG, during the lengthy build.
Aerial view of Trinity Grammar’s sports fields in Bulleen (L). The fields amid North East Link construction in 2024 (R).Credit: Trinity (L), Chris Hopkins (R).
Public documents show Trinity received $8.33 million in rent and capital payments from the North East Link in 2021 and 2022, and the school expected further payments throughout construction.
The Victorian government had agreed to fund about 80 per cent of the cost of rebuilding the school’s Bulleen sports complex, Trinity said in annual accounts.
However, the North East Link authority has refused to detail how much taxpayers have spent compensating the school.
“The capital works funding agreements are legal documents that are subject to confidentiality clauses,” a spokeswoman said.
For six months The Age has been seeking details of total taxpayer compensation by the North East Link to educational facilities.
In response to a freedom-of-information request, the North East Link initially said it had paid Trinity Grammar less than $2 million, an amount that was less than a quarter of what Trinity had already disclosed publicly. The FOI figures said North East Link has paid $1.85 million to Trinity, just under $109,000 to Carey and close to $57,000 to Marist Brothers (on behalf of Marcellin College) for rent and compulsory land acquisitions until March this year.
But Trinity’s annual reports show it received $491,171 from the state government in 2021 for losing 20 per cent of its sporting complex to construction, and $3.85 million to relocate and construct eight tennis courts, 16 cricket practice wickets, an archery range and “various minor infrastructure improvements”. In 2022, Trinity received a further $3.99 million and said it continued to “formalise various operating and funding agreements which will see the state government fund some 80 per cent of the campus’ masterplan”.
The school has since refused to disclose taxpayer payments.
The school said it had redrafted a masterplan for its Bulleen land to accommodate the North East Link, and rental income from the government would be used for future building projects.
“Trinity Grammar School has also been compensated for the large number of pre-existing facilities which were lost as a result of North East Link Project occupation of its property, with funding being received to enable replacement assets to be constructed and ensure continued operation of the fields for student use,” a spokeswoman said.
Carey Baptist Grammar’s sports fields in Bulleen (L). The fields in 2024 amid construction (R).Credit: Carey (L), Chris Hopkins (R)
Trinity’s 2023 annual report states that “new roadways, parking space, signage, coaches’ boxes, caretaker’s residence, grounds facility, and planning for a new pavilion” in Bulleen had all been completed last year, but does not reveal payments.
City of Manningham councillor Stephen Mayne said there was a ridiculous level of secrecy surrounding the project. The North East Link rejected the council’s bid for details on its compulsory acquisition of almost 100 businesses in Bulleen West, describing the buyouts as “private agreements”.
David Southwick, shadow minister for transport infrastructure, said the government “must provide transparency around the costings of this project”.
High-fee co-educational school Carey Baptist Grammar has a 14-acre sport complex in Bulleen with seven playing fields, indoor pools, and a stadium. It said nine per cent of the complex had been affected by the construction, including six per cent that had been compulsorily acquired. Other impacts included the loss of some tennis courts, athletics amenities, mature trees, vegetation, parking. It said the project had also caused noise and air pollution, and traffic delays.
Carey said it continued to negotiate with the state government over the compulsory acquisition.
“Carey is not able to disclose the anticipated value of the compulsory acquisition until such time as the commercial terms are agreed and finalised,” a spokeswoman said.
The Carey site during the North East Link construction in July 2024.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Meanwhile, secondary school Marcellin College has received virtually no compensation and remains in talks. It has lost its entrance, part of its fence and ovals, and enrolments during the build.
Outside Marcellin, the freeway’s construction compound looks like an open pit mine. When the road project opens, the school will have a “chimney stack” out the front, where exhaust fumes from the tunnel will come out.
“It’s definitely affected our enrolments, there’s no doubt about that,” said principal Marco De Cesare. “The other schools, they’ve only got sports grounds (affected). We have nearly 1200 students plus the families plus staff, so we’ve got [thousands of] people a day coming through.”
Marcellin College principal Marco Di Cesare says enrolments have fallen during the North East Link’s construction.Credit: Wayne Taylor
The project’s inquiry and advisory committee report said the North East Link would affect 26 per cent of Trinity’s land in Bulleen, 20 per cent of Marcellin’s and 9 per cent of Carey’s. Between 1 and 4 per cent of the schools’ property would be required permanently.
The 10-kilometre toll road will include 6.5 kilometres of tunnels and widen the Eastern Freeway to 20 lanes in places. The North East Link is Victoria’s biggest road project and will open in 2028, after receiving $5 billion in funding from the federal government.
The view outside Marcellin College in Bulleen.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Part of the cost is compensation for properties in its path, including the Boroondara Tennis Courts, which had 23 courts. The project offered the City of Boroondara $30.1 million for the 3.7 hectare-site last year.
Duncan Elliott, chief executive of Major Road Projects Victoria, said: “We’re working very closely with schools highly affected by our construction to make sure we leave a lasting and positive legacy as we build North East Link.”
“This project will get thousands of trucks off local roads and make it easier and safer for students to get to school right across the north-east.”
With Rachel Eddie
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