One of Canberra's most elite private schools more than doubled its annual profits while pocketing millions in government pandemic support - including JobKeeper.
Canberra Grammar was also receiving the taxpayer-funded wage subsidy just months after it received a $20 million donation from billionaire businessman and old scholar Terry Snow to fund a major campus upgrade.
The revelations have prompted outrage from pro-public education advocacy group Save Our Schools and raised further questions about the now-concluded $90 billion Morrison government scheme.
The school has defended its decision to accept the support by saying the pandemic had a "dramatic impact", including on boarding and early childhood education.
Canberra Grammar Head of School Justin Garrick said the school received the support to help secure the jobs of more than 500 staff and ensure continuity of learning for in excess of 2100 students and young children.
Financial records, lodged with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and published late last year, reveal the Red Hill private school received $7.5 million in emergency federal government assistance in 2020.
The pandemic assistance included JobKeeper as well as funding under the government's early childhood education and care relief package.
The financial records do not clarify exactly how much Canberra Grammar received in wage subsidies, and the school did not provide the information when asked by The Canberra Times.
Canberra Grammar's financial records show it posted a $7.3 million profit in the 2020 calendar year, more than doubling the $3.9 million profit it recorded in 2019.
Records showed the school's total revenue and income increased to $68 million in the first year of the pandemic, up from $61.5 million. Expenses were up $1.4 million.
The school also received $6.3 million and $1.7 million in federal and ACT government recurrent grants respectively, and held more than $81.5 million worth of assets at the end 2020.
Organisations including private schools were eligible to access the first phase of JobKeeper if they projected turnover would decline in the early months of the pandemic.
The Morrison government controversially chose not to include a claw-back mechanism in the scheme, which meant recipients who ultimately turned a profit were allowed to keep the subsidies.
Almost $14 billion ended up in the hands of businesses whose profits rose in the first six months of the program, according to Treasury figures.
Save Our Schools national convenor Trevor Cobbold said it was clear Canberra Grammar - which will charge $27,150 for Year 11-12 fees this year - didn't need JobKeeper to stay afloat during the pandemic.
"Why Canberra Grammar got COVID funding when making a huge profit is beyond comprehension," he said.
"It was wallowing in private and government funding and had multi-million dollar assets to cushion against any downturn in revenue."
Mr Cobbold called on the school to return the millions it received.
In a statement to The Canberra Times, Dr Garrick did not comment on whether the school would repay the subsidies.
Dr Garrick said Canberra Grammar was a large provider of boarding and early childhood education.
He said the school received the help after the federal government made childcare temporarily free for families at the start of the nationwide lockdown in 2020.
He described the early months of the pandemic as having a "dramatic impact" on the school's "boarding provision, childcare and other services".
Dr Garrick said all of the funding was "confirmed" by the tax office.
Documents lodged with the commission also reveal Orana Steiner School in Weston posted an almost $2 million surplus while receiving JobKeeper in 2020. That compared to an operating surplus of $27,500 in 2019.
The school received $1.95 million in COVID-related federal government assistance in 2020, which included JobKeeper subsidies and cashflow help. The school did not respond to questions from The Canberra Times.
Fenner MP Andrew Leigh, who led Labor's campaign exposing waste and rorts in the scheme, took aim at the Morrison government's spending priorities during the two-year long pandemic.
"JobKeeper was meant to keep battlers in jobs, not boost profits," Dr Leigh told The Canberra Times.
"The Morrison government says it can't afford to provide free rapid antigen tests to essential workers, yet the Liberals had no problem putting millions of dollars into the pockets of elite private schools. Again, the Liberals have shown that when it comes to COVID, they're not on your side."
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has continually defended the scheme, arguing it helped prevent the dire unemployment predictions made at the outset of the pandemic.
An estimated 700,000 jobs were saved because of the scheme.
The government has also argued that including a claw-back mechanism to recoup funds in the scheme's design would have been a disincentive for business, which, in turn, would have hampered the recovery.
