Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s daughter Frances on arm of new man at Dolce & Gabbana Melbourne event

WHEN Prince Harry was Down Under last year, PM Tony Abbott was told to ‘lock up his daughters’, but it looks like one of them now has a new flame.

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott’s daughter Frances stepped out with her boyfriend Lindsay Smith in Melbourne for the first time this week.

The couple were at the Dolce & Gabbana cocktail party on Wednesday night mingling with high profile guests that included Kylie Minogue, Nadia Bartel, Michael Klim and designer Domenico Dolce.

It is the first time 22-year-old Frances has stepped out publicly with a boyfriend, normally smiling for cameras with her sister Bridget, 20, on the red carpet..

The easy-on-the-eye pair were relaxed at the chic fashion event holding hands as they left together.

Frances Abbott with boyfriend Lindsay Smith at the Dolce & Gabbana cocktail party in Melbourne. Credit: Lucas Dawson Photography

During his election campaign now PM Tony Abbott said his three daughters Louise, Frances and Bridget were his “best asset”, describing himself as “the guy with the not bad looking daughters.”

But Smith had better mind his p’s and q’s, with Abbott like any other doting dad and officially on the record as saying “there is no right boyfriend” for his three daughters.

Frances Abbott moved to Melbourne earlier this year to study her masters at fashion school the Whitehouse Institute of Design in the City.

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“It’s what I love and I want to live and breath it,” she told the Herald Sun earlier this year.

“This is definitely what I want to do.”

Frances and Bridget Abbott at Myer's Autumn Winter collection fashion show launch in Melbourne.

Frances and her sister Bridget are also lending their weight to fashion and charity.

The sisters recently posed in white in support of ovarian cancer for research for Witchery’s White Shirt campaign.

“To give a garment like the white shirt - a piece of clothing that is so universal, accessible and iconic - a new meaning (as) a hope for a cure, is a very powerful thing,” Frnaces said.

Witchery's White Shirt Campaign. LtR Frances Abbott, Jesinta Campbell and Bridget Abbott. Pic Hugh Stewart