Kirribilli House is listed on Stayz holiday website after Malcolm Turnbull …

Holiday rental website urges Malcolm Turnbull to throw open the doors of Kirribilli House to holidaymakers
The PM and his wife won’t be moving into Kirribilli House – the official Sydney home of the Prime Minister
Stayz.com.au has light-heartedly listed the home on its website after contacting the PM via social media
Part of its listing includes reference to a ’48 burner barbie, quickest WiFi in the country and a big red button’
The Turnbulls will sleep at their Point Piper mansion – in Sydney’s affluent east – reportedly worth $52 million

Frank Coletta

and
Louise Cheer for Daily Mail Australia

Published:
07:52 GMT, 24 September 2015

|
Updated:
08:11 GMT, 24 September 2015

View
comments

Kirribilli House has been jokingly listed as up for rent on a holiday home website after new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull turned down the opportunity to move into the grand official residence.

Mr Turnbull this week revealed he and his wife Lucy will opt to stay at their sprawling Point Piper mansion instead of joining the long line of Australian prime ministers who called Kirribilli House home.

Stayz.com.au decided to put the feelers out and asked Mr Turnbull if he would mind if the ’10-bedroom 10-bedroom’ harbourside mansion could be offered as a rental, complete with a ’48 burner barbie, guaranteed fastest WiFi in the country and a big red button’.

They say: ‘The owner is a busy individual who resides elsewhere in Sydney.’

The rental website tried to get a top-level seal of approval when tweeting: ‘Hi @TurnbullMalcolm, Seeing as you’re not moving into Kirribilli House, why not let people stay there?’

Scroll down for video

Kirribilli House, on Sydney’s North Shore, complete with harbour views ‘a big red button’ and even bigger barbeque according to a holiday rental website which has cheekily asked the Prime Minister to rent it out to holidaymakers

Malcolm Turnbull (centre) has revealed he and his wife, Lucy (left), will be staying put at their Point Piper mansion to be closer to their grandson, Jack Turnbull-Brown (right), rather than take up residence at Kirribilli House

With no official response yet forthcoming, the accommodation giant has gone ahead and posted the following (mostly tongue-in-cheek) description, under the headline “Stunning harbour side mansion fit for a King/PM”.

‘A spacious and illustrious property that is steeped in history with beautiful, uninterrupted views Easterly towards Sydney,’ it writes.

‘Will make a fabulous, luxurious getaway for couples, families, and large groups of friends.’

There’s no night-stay price listed, only mention of a moderate fee, but whatever the price might be it includes a microwave, dishwasher, ironing facilities plus linen and towels supplied.

It features: 10 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, jacuzzi (fits 12, comfortably fits 9), 48 burner barbie, friendly/dedicated Secret Intelligence Service professional named Barry.

Wi-fi. Guaranteed quickest in the country.

Panic room (code word: “Yodel”).

Décor: Modern historical. Impressive Memorabilia Room including various artefacts and state gifts, notably a 12th Century vase gifted from the King of Luxembourg and a dashing ceremonial sword bestowed upon the property on behalf of the Ambassador of Venezuela.

A big red button.

The owner is a busy individual who resides elsewhere in Sydney. Furthermore he is not looking for monetary compensation for staying, therefore only a moderate cleaning fee applies.

Stayz Marking Director, David Dunstan said there are ‘some fairly unbelievable features that the property may or may not boast’.

Former prime minister John Howard pictured in December, 2006 walking down the steps of Kirribilli House, which was his official residence during his lengthy leadership

‘We pride ourselves on being able to offer thousands of unique holiday rentals, and Kirribilli House is certainly unique,’ Mr Dunstan said.

‘We hate to see empty houses and this one’s a cracker.

‘It’s in a prime location, big enough for the whole family and it’s empty, so why not we say? We know Malcolm is rather busy at the moment, but hopefully it will be available to rent soon.’

Availability appears to be an issue with just the one day presumably up-for-grabs at the moment, Sunday, November 22.

Kirribilli House has been the official place of residence for the Australian Prime Minister since 1956 but Mr Turnbull has other plans for it.

The Turnbulls bought the Point Piper mansion back in 2010 for $3.17 million. It boasts a swimming pool, boat shed and jetty

Above is an aerial shot of the sprawling mansion, which shows it extends all the way to the waterfront and dwarfs its neighbours

Mr Turnbull leaving his Point Piper home in 2007. It is thought it could be worth $52 million as much as a neighbouring mansion, Altona

‘We will obviously use that for official entertaining,’ Mr Turnbull confirmed.

‘We’ll certainly be doing that but sleeping at home.’

The grandeur of Mr Turnbull’s pink-coloured, Mediterranean-style mansion is a far cry from the more conservative twin-gabled Kirribilli House – on Sydney’s North Shore.

The Gothic-style brick home was built in 1854 by Adolphus Frederick Feez who sold it off in 1858.

After passing through numerous owners, it was then bought by Arthur Wigram Allen who wanted to subdivide the land Kirribilli House sat on.

But public outcry forced then-prime minister William Morris Hughes to acquire it for the Commonwealth of Australia in 1920.

Malcolm Turnbull prepares to be sworn in as Australia’s…

Behind every good man is a good woman: Meet new Prime…

At first, Kirribilli House, which also has views of Sydney Harbour, was lived in by the governor-general’s staff until 1930 because of its close proximity to Admiralty House.

It was then leased out to tenants before it was used as accommodation for overseas guests of the Federal Government and by the prime minister in 1956.

Since then, it has become the prime minister’s second official home after The Lodge in Canberra.

It is little wonder the Turnbulls do not want to give up their waterfront mansion, with real estate agents predicting it is similarly priced as neighbouring mansion Altona – which sold in 2013 for $52 million, according to Domain.

Mr Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, bought their Wunulla Road property, which sat on a 1,940sqm block, back in 2010 for $3.17 million.

But they did not waste any time expanding their home in Sydney’s east, buying up next door’s $1.7 million Gwandalan property and slicing off 600sqm to make the most of the waterfront views of the Sydney Harbour.

The rest of the land was turned into a duplex, and was sold off to Ben and Tiffany Tilley for $13.6 million.