PM says Copacabana house about ‘real relationships’, not politics
Anthony Albanese says his purchase of a $4.3m mansion on the NSW Central Coast last year “wasn’t a political decision”.
The Prime Minister drew fire after confirming he and his fiancee Jodie Haydon were buying the cliff top property in Copacabana.
Critics claimed the real estate move showed he was out of touch with common Australians weathering cost of living pressures.
A handful of backgrounding rebel Labor backbenchers also questioned the political sense of the purchase ahead of the looming federal vote this year.
But months after the firestorm, Mr Albanese has opened up about the personal factors that drove the decision, saying “not every decision that I make as a human being is through a focus group, is about politics”.
Camera IconPrime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed last year he and his fiancee were buying a $4.3m mansion on the NSW Central Coast. Supplied Credit: Supplied
Camera IconThe property is located on the Copacabana clifftop and offers unobstructed ocean views. Realestate.com.au Credit: Supplied
“Around about this time last year, on February 14, I proposed to Jodie,” he told Sky News in an interview aired on Sunday.
“I’ve met someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, and what happens when people make that decision, if they’re in a position to, they go and get a mortgage together.
“And it’s mortgaged, and I sold another property, a property that I had in order to assist with that, so that down the track … we can have somewhere close to where Jodie grew up, where Jodie’s parents and family all are.
“And it wasn’t a political decision. It was very much a personal one.”
Camera IconMr Albanese says the move to buy the property in Copacabana ‘wasn’t a political decision’. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia
At the time of the purchase, several senior Coalition MPs suggested, in varying degrees of seriousness, the property purchase was a sign Mr Albanese was leaving politics.
He has repeatedly denied the claims.
But in his interview, he also said he thought people would understand his time in politics “will end”.
“We won’t be here in 20 years’ time,” Mr Albanese said.
“We will not spend our later years in the same house where Carmel and I, my first wife, the mother of my son – our son, Nathan – where we raised Nathan and where we lived as a family.
“Life is complex. People have real relationships that matter.
“I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have met Jodie, someone I want to spend the rest of my life with and we … have made this decision as well … to buy somewhere together for down the track.”
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