‘We love the harbour’: Dutton says he would live in Sydney as prime minister

Follow our live coverage of the 2025 federal election here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has mocked Peter Dutton’s penchant for the harbour after the opposition leader said he would choose to relocate to Kirribilli House on Sydney Harbour if elected rather than the Lodge in the national capital.

Dutton told commercial radio station KIIS FM that he would move his family from Queensland to the harbourside property in Sydney’s north if the Coalition won government, which would make him the first prime minister from outside Sydney to relocate to Kirribilli House when taking the top job.

Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of hubris over comments he made about where he would live after the election.Credit: Nine News, James Brickwood

“We would live in Kirribilli. You know, we love Sydney, we love the harbour – it’s a great city,” Dutton said on Monday morning when asked where he planned to live if he won the election.

“When you’ve got a choice between Kirribilli and living in Canberra and the Lodge, I think you’d take Sydney any day over Canberra.”

Kirribilli House is maintained for the use of prime ministers when they need to perform duties in Sydney, but most Australian prime ministers have lived in the Lodge – which is a few minutes’ drive from Parliament House in Canberra – as their primary residence.

Dutton’s move is consistent with his snubbing of the “Canberra bubble”. The opposition leader has targeted the city’s public service workforce ahead of this year’s federal election, cutting jobs from the capital’s bureaucracy and pushing workers back to the office full-time.

But as the federal election campaign zeroes in on a fight over the cost of living, Labor quickly accused Dutton of arrogance on Monday. Albanese said Dutton had shown a “fair bit of hubris” and mocked him for “measuring up the curtains” before being elected.

Dutton said he would move his family to Kirribilli House if the Coalition won government.Credit: airviewonline.com

“He says he likes the harbour. You know, everyone likes the harbour,” Albanese said when asked about Dutton’s comments on Monday.

“But your job is to be close to where the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is, where meetings happen almost every day. Almost every day when I’m in Canberra, I’m in a meeting. I’m in the cabinet room, I’m in the secure room working away.”

Former prime minister John Howard was the first to use Kirribilli House as his primary residence, followed by former prime ministers Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. All three represented electorates in Sydney.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull lived in his own waterfront property in the eastern suburbs when in Sydney, while Albanese chose to relocate from Sydney to live in the Lodge as his primary residence.

Albanese said he moved to Canberra to avoid perceptions he was working for Sydney rather than the nation.

“One of the frustrations, I think, that was felt by people in the west was that previous occupants of [Kirribilli House], of the prime ministership, saw themselves as being prime minister for Sydney,” he said.

“I’m a Sydneysider who’s lived there my whole life, but… I believe the prime minister should live in the Lodge.”

Dutton, whose electorate of Dickson is in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, would be the first prime minister from outside NSW to choose Sydney as his primary residence.

The opposition leader has regularly dismissed the “Canberra bubble” as he appeals to outer suburban voters in his quest to pick up disenchanted voters in marginal seats during the election campaign.

He has repeatedly singled out “Canberra-based public servants” in his push to cut 41,000 federal public servants and reduce government spending, despite more than 60 per cent of the federal bureaucracy being located outside the capital.

Dutton also targeted Canberra-based public servants when he made a push to get bureaucrats back to the office five days a week.

“I’m not having a situation where Australians are working harder than ever, and they’re seeing public servants in Canberra turn up to work when they want to, or refusing, in some cases, in many cases, to go back to work when they’re directed to do so,” he said this month.

Dutton has built his image appealing to suburban battlers, and he has increased the Coalition’s chances in mortgage-belt seats by pointedly focusing on their hip-pocket concerns.

But his attendance at a fundraiser held at the waterfront mansion of Sydney billionaire Justin Hemmes ahead of cyclone Alfred was effectively weaponised by Labor, who sought to paint him as out of touch.

Several Liberal MPs declined to comment about Dutton’s Kirribilli comments. “I don’t want to add to the story,” one said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Labor’s ACT senator, said Dutton did not respect Canberrans.

“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.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock said leaders should celebrate Canberra, “not play cheap politics taking potshots at it”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.