{"id":606401,"date":"2026-04-14T14:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606401\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:27:14","slug":"melbourne-lord-mayor-nick-reece-comes-clean-about-identity-of-argyle-square-fountain-donor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606401\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece comes clean about identity of Argyle Square fountain donor"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 14, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece has finally come clean about the \u201cgenerous Italian family\u201d behind a multimillion-dollar fountain gift, as the developers behind the plan moved to defend the donation amid conflict of interest concerns.<\/p>\n

An investigation by The Age<\/a> on Tuesday revealed the Marcocci family were promising to fund a fountain in Argyle Square, off Carlton\u2019s Lygon Street, and that they were also property developers who donated to Reece\u2019s election war chest. The family also owns a large parcel of land in the Macaulay precinct in North Melbourne, which the City of Melbourne is considering whether to compulsorily acquire.<\/p>\n

\"MarcocciMarcocci family patriarch Eusebio Marcocci (left), Argyle Square and Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece.Marija Ercegovac\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pressed on the revelations, Premier Jacinta Allan and the state opposition refused to commit to integrity rule changes that would have disallowed the developer donation in the first place.<\/p>\n

Maurizio Marcocci, managing director of University Food Group, defended his family\u2019s contributions and engagement with the council in a statement to The Age on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family has at all times followed due process and complied with council officer requests to introduce the concept, design and funding of the fountain to councillors through the appropriate channels,\u201d Marcocci said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Eusebio<\/a><\/p>\n

He said the family had relocated their wholesale meat business from near the square at the corner of Cardigan and Pelham streets during the pandemic, at which time patriarch Eusebio Marcocci proposed \u201cgifting\u201d a fountain to symbolise the migrant community\u2019s contribution to the city.<\/p>\n

Reece had declined to identify the donor in three separate interviews during the past 18 months, but named them on ABC Radio Melbourne\u2019s Mornings program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had an offer by an Italian family, the Marcoccis, to make a philanthropic donation to the City of Melbourne to build a fountain in the square,\u201d Reece told host Waleed Aly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Marcocci family did make a donation to my campaign, and if it comes to pass that the council makes a decision about that donation to the city to build a fountain, then I will recuse myself from that decision. I\u2019ll step out for that particular council vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November, Reece said the fountain was expected to cost between $1 million and $5 million. Neither the lord mayor nor the family have to date confirmed the total cost.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The family are developing the $80 million \u201cLa Storia\u201d apartment complex in Carlton, which directly overlooks Argyle Square, the proposed site of the fountain development.<\/p>\n

Through their investment vehicle, Lou Nominees, the Marcocci family donated $10,000 to the mayor\u2019s election campaign for him and his fellow \u201cTeam Nick\u201d councillors Roshena Campbell (now deputy lord mayor), Kevin Louey and Mark Scott.<\/p>\n

Reece\u2019s team raised more money during last year\u2019s council election than any previous Melbourne mayoral campaign, at nearly $1 million<\/a>. The Marcocci donation came just weeks after Reece pledged in August 2024 to refuse donations from property developers.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the ABC, Reece justified the donation by stating the family had no \u201clive developments\u201d in the city. \u201cI\u2019m not aware of them having any live applications for a development. And so that donation was made in good faith, and I received it in good faith,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"ReeceReece being sworn in as the 105th lord mayor of Melbourne in November 2024.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Integrity experts warned such \u201cgifts\u201d were a well-known red flag and corruption risk. Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore and Dr Colleen Lewis, of ethics advocacy group Accountability Round Table, reiterated calls for Victoria to follow NSW, South Australia and the ACT in banning developer donations to councillors.<\/p>\n

The approval for the Marcocci family\u2019s Carlton complex was issued under the previous term of the council, of which Reece was a part. The council is considering whether to acquire large tracts of land in the Macaulay development area, including a parcel owned by the Marcocci family. Reece and his team have recused themselves from two of three votes related to Macaulay.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Macaulay land, Maurizio Marcocci said the family had learnt of the proposal to apply a public acquisition overlay via a letter sent last month. He described the proposal as relating to a \u201cvery narrow strip of land\u201d \u2013 approximately 650 square metres of a site of almost 11,000 square metres \u2013 required for open space planning.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Age, Reece defended the fountain as a decades-old community priority, and said the space for the project was included in the 2004 Argyle Square masterplan.<\/p>\n

\"PremierPremier Jacinta Allan enters a Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell renewed calls for bans on developer donations and the introduction of real-time disclosures.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions should be made based on what\u2019s best for the community, not property developers who bankroll politicians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictoria is already lagging behind other states that have already banned developer donations, and the only reason Labor hasn\u2019t acted on this yet is because they\u2019re cashing in cheques from the same vested interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allan would not be drawn on whether Victoria would ban developer donations or cap donations in local government. Currently, the amount of money a donor can give a council candidate is unlimited, while the state candidates are limited to about $5000.<\/p>\n

Allan said she needed to seek an update on how far her government\u2019s policy work had progressed and suggested further talks would hinge on which MP held the local government portfolio in a reshuffle to be finalised on Wednesday. MP Nick Staikos currently holds the role.<\/p>\n

Shadow attorney-general James Newbury said the Coalition did not support industry-specific bans on donations that would \u201ccount people out of being part of the democratic process\u201d. But he said it was fair to ask whether council donations should be disclosed in a more timely manner, in line with state and federal processes.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"RachaelRachael Dexter<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.dexter@theage.com.au, rachaeldexter@protonmail.com, or via Signal at @rachaeldexter.58Connect via Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"DaniellaDaniella White<\/a> is a state political reporter for The Age. Contact her at da.white@nine.com.auConnect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 14, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-606401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}