Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher has accused Peter Dutton of “arrogantly measuring the curtains at Kirribilli House” and disrespecting the national capital.
Peter Dutton has confirmed he and his family would move into Sydney’s Kirribilli House – a harbourside mansion overlooking the Opera House – rather than the Lodge in Canberra if elected on 3 May.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the comments – made during week one of the federal election campaign – showed “a fair bit of hubris”.
“We would live in Kirribilli,” Dutton told Sydney radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O on Monday.
“We love Sydney, we love the harbour, it’s a great city, and so yes. You’ve got the choice between Kirribilli or living in Canberra. I think I’ll take Sydney any day over living in Canberra.”
Dutton’s comments have annoyed several ACT politicians who are already angered by the Coalition’s plan to shed about 41,000 federal public service jobs to save money. The majority of this workforce lives in and around Canberra.
Gallagher claimed Dutton’s comments showed he had “no respect” for the people of Canberra.
“It is no surprise to me that Peter Dutton is arrogantly measuring the curtains at Kirribilli House while he continues to kick Canberra,” Gallagher said.
“This arrogant attitude is in stark contrast to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who proudly lives in Canberra and respects the national capital”.
The independent ACT senator, David Pocock, said: “Canberrans love the bush capital and we should have leaders who celebrate it, not play cheap politics taking pot shots at it”.
“If Mr Dutton doesn’t want the Lodge then I’m sure Canberrans can vote in a way that doesn’t give him that option.”
Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh, who represents the ACT electorate of Fenner, said Canberra was “the heart of Australia’s democracy”.
“Albanese lives here, because leading the country means respecting its capital,” Leigh said. “Only Dutton wants to govern it from somewhere else.”
Albanese told Perth’s Nova FM he thought Dutton “showed a fair bit of hubris” by making the admission.
“The prime minister’s residence, of course, is the Lodge,” Albanese said. “Not Kirribilli.”
Dutton’s preference is in line with former Liberal prime ministers Scott Morrison and John Howard, who both lived in Kirribilli House but stayed at the Lodge when in Canberra. Tony Abbott also lived in Kirribilli while the Lodge was being renovated, in part due a possum infestation.
Malcolm Turnbull lived in his Point Piper home until those renovations were finished in 2016. He then moved into the heritage listed home in the Canberra suburb of Deakin.
Kevin Rudd, a Queenslander, lived in the Lodge, as did Julia Gillard – but she only moved in after she won the 2010 election. Her time in the Lodge was dampened somewhat by possum excretions.
“Prime minister [Julia] Gillard does have a wonderful story, I understand, about seeing possum wee run down the wall whilst she was entertaining,” recalled Elizabeth Kelly, a former deputy secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, almost a decade ago.
Abbott became one of three prime ministers not to have lived in the Lodge since it was built in 1927. At the time, the others were Jim Scullin, who had campaigned against the costs of the residence when he was opposition leader in the late 1920s, and Ben Chifley, who had worked closely with John Curtin – the wartime PM who died in the house in 1945.
This article was amended on 31 March 2025. A previous version stated that Andrew Leigh represents the ACT electorate of Fraser – the seat was renamed Fenner in 2016.
