Anthony Albanese has slammed Peter Dutton for showing ‘hubris’ after the Opposition Leader said he would prefer to live in Sydney over Canberra if elected as Prime Minister.
Choosing a main residence is one of the first decisions an elected leader is asked to make after winning government.
They can choose to live at The Lodge, a Georgian revival-style manor located in Canberra’s leafy southern suburbs, or Kirribilli House, a gothic-style mansion with gun-barrel views of Sydney’s gleaming harbour from its wealthy lower north.
And Mr Dutton revealed on Monday morning that if the Coalition is victorious on May 3, he will opt for the Emerald City over the national’s capital.
‘If you’ve got a choice between Kirribilli or living in Canberra and The Lodge, it takes Sydney any day over Canberra,’ he told the Kyle and Jackie O show.
‘We love Sydney, love the harbour. It’s a great city.’
But the Prime Minister has now accused Mr Dutton of showing ‘hubris’ and of ‘measuring up the curtains’ when there were still five gruelling weeks of campaigning left to go and the election result still very much on a knife edge.
‘A fair bit of hubris behind that comment, I think. Measuring up the curtains,’ Mr Albanese told reporters.
‘I don’t take ns for granted. As ‘s Prime Minister, my job is to represent the country.
‘One of the frustrations I think that was felt by people in the west was that previous occupants of The Lodge, of the prime ministership, saw themselves as being prime minister for Sydney.’
Despite being a self-described ‘Sydneysider’, Mr Albanese said he believed ‘the prime minister should live in The Lodge’.
‘[Dutton] says he likes the harbour. You know, everyone likes the harbour. But your job is to be close to where the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is, where meetings happen almost every day,’ Mr Albanese added.
A prime minister’s main residence has long been viewed as a reflection of their priorities.
Although Kirribilli House is traditionally considered the secondary official residence of the prime minister, previous Liberal prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison used the house as such.
The opposition leader’s choice appears to mirror the coalition’s disdain for the Canberra-based public service, which the party has committed to slashing the sector by as many as 41,000 jobs.
Upon his election in 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed he would live at The Lodge full-time as he felt it was important to spend as much time in Canberra as possible.
Meanwhile, Mr Dutton has been warned to keep Sydney’s multicultural communities at the heart of his campaign.
While the coalition has attacked Labor over the level of post-COVID-19 pandemic immigration, it plans to cut 25 per cent of ‘s permanent intake.
Politicians needed to be in touch with all of , former NSW Liberal premier turned n ambassador to India Barry O’Farrell said.
‘This is heartland modern and you’ve just got to look around to see different nationalities,’ he told AAP at an Assyrian New Year festival in Western Sydney.
‘If you ignore multicultural communities, if you don’t show an interest in them as you do with everyone else in , you are not going to win.’
Mr Dutton leaned on his record as immigration minister – when he committed to resettle an additional 12,000 people displaced by conflicts in Syria and Iraq – to spruik his credentials at an Assyrian festival on Sunday.
The move was welcomed by the community and he was relatively well-received at the event, with Assyrian National Council president Hermiz Shahen thankful of Mr Dutton’s support.
The opposition leader then announced he would give the Al Madinah Mosque in Leppington $25,000 for CCTV and security upgrades so people could practice their faith in peace.
Asked whether Mr Dutton’s rhetoric on migration would harm the coalition in multicultural communities, Mr O’Farrell said ‘his rescuing of a number of ethnic groups at times of conflict just demonstrates that doesn’t matter what party you are’.
‘We embrace multiculturalism,’ he said.
Mr Dutton has committed to revealing what migration programs will be cut under his policy before voters hit the polls.