Anthony Albanese swapped his pajamas for a flannel shirt and jeans to welcome senior members of his team and senior public officials to his home for a kitchen cabinet-style meeting.
Shortly after 6am on Friday, the Prime Minister had emerged from his comfortable home in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, wearing his favorite Peter Alexander trousers with cartoon rabbits, a Newtown Jets t-shirt and a pair of Ugg boots to pick up the newspaper.
Then, after a series of media interviews, a cheerful Albanese opened the door of his home to several senior government officials, including Stephanie Foster, the new Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The meeting was held at his family home, as he has yet to move into Kirribilli House, the prime minister’s Sydney residence, despite winning the election six days ago.
But with Scott Morrison, his wife Jenny and their two daughters set to return to their home in the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney, on Friday, Albanese is likely to move into his new taxpayer-funded abode – and the site of the future. Informal Friday meetings this weekend.
Anthony Albanese has swapped his pajamas for a flannel shirt and jeans to welcome potential members of his ministry and government officials to his home.
Mr Albanese is seen opening the front door of his home in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, as senior bureaucrats walked inside.
Albanese hosted a kitchen cabinet-style gathering at his home in Marrickville on Friday morning.
Stephanie Foster, the new Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, was one of the officials at the Prime Minister’s home on Friday.
The meeting was held at his home in Marrickville as he has not yet moved into Kirribilli House.
Albanese donned a plaid shirt and jeans while hosting officials at his home.
Mark Butler, who is tipped to be Labour’s health and aging minister, was also seen at Albanese’s home on Friday.
Removal vans were also seen at The Lodge in Canberra on Thursday.
Ms Foster appeared to wink as she answered a question about Christian Porter at a Senate hearing in October last year.
Porter resigned from the cabinet after revealing he had accepted anonymous donations to fund his legal battle against the ABC over its article accusing a senior minister of rape.
Ms Foster was questioned about investigations into Mr Porter’s anonymous donation which she revealed on September 13.
He revealed that discussions over whether accepting anonymous donations violated ministerial standards “took place between September 15 and 19.”
She then turned her head to the right, pushed her hair back and appeared to wink at the government’s Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, while facing the camera.
Labor senator Penny Wong later asked Ms Foster if she had winked at her, to which she replied: “I can categorically say that at no time have I knowingly winked at Senator Birmingham.”
“Either he’s capturing me with my eyes closed or there’s some other reason,” he said.
He later said, after seeing the footage, that he was greeting another colleague who had just approached the table.
Mark Butler, who is set to become Labor minister for health and ageing, was also seen outside Albanese’s home on Friday.
Albanese residents, who love having ‘Albo’ on their street, previously told Daily Mail Australia they hope he moves half an hour away, to Kirribilli, to keep their street smart out of the headlines.
“Fingers crossed,” said retired neighbor Jon. “It would be impossible for him to stay here with all the security that is needed as prime minister, but we would be sad to see him go.”
Anthony Albanese stepped out in his pajamas and a pair of Ugg boots to pick up the newspaper on Friday morning.
The Prime Minister wore the same pair of Peter Alexander pajama pants and his Newtown Jets jersey as when he picked up the newspaper on Thursday.
Their pajama pants have rabbit drawings printed on them.
Another neighbor said he even takes out the trash when the family goes on vacation and buys his children Christmas gifts every year.
“He’s a lovely neighbor and very chatty,” said Jane, a mother of two. ‘He is wonderful with children. He always has time for them; “That seems incredible to me.”
Albanese lives in a modest house in Marrickville and owns several other investment properties, some on the same street as his home, and has a real estate portfolio valued at about $5 million.
Mr Albanese is seen returning inside his home in Marrickville.
The new prime minister is yet to move into Kirribilli House, six days after winning the election.
Albanese lives in a modest house in Marrickville and owns other investment properties, some on the same street as his home.
Albanese is seen with his partner Jodie Haydon (above)
Albanese, who grew up in Camperdown, is a life member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs but also attends Newtown Jets home games at Henson Park in Marrickville.
“Where I grew up, people went to church on Sundays, voted Labor every three years and went to football on Saturdays, whether it was Souths, Newtown or Balmain,” he told Daily Mail Australia during the election campaign.
“One of the things I still do is go to Henson Park to watch Newtown play and we sat on the hill, 8,972 of us, it’s crazy.”
The crowd at all Newtown matches at Henson Park is advertised as being 8,972, the number of fans at the club’s last game before it was expelled from the first grade competition at the end of the 1983 season.
Newtown now plays in the second tier NSW Cup.
Just days after becoming the country’s new leader, Albanese has already had to deal with controversy in his own party, after Tanya Plibersek compared Peter Dutton to the bald Harry Potter villain ‘Voldemort’.
Plibersek, who is expected to become the country’s next education minister following Labour’s historic election victory, said children who had seen the films would be very “afraid” of the former defense minister when they saw him on television. .
“I’m saying he looks a bit like Voldemort and we’ll see if he can do what he promised the last time he ran for leader, which is smile more,” Ms Plibersek told 4BC radio.
Sunrise host Natalie Barr questioned Albanese on Thursday about the brutal insult against Dutton, pointing out that there would be “I would pay hell” if a man made fun of a female MP’s appearance.
Albanese is seen with Foreign Minister Penny Wong after arriving in Japan for the QUAD leaders meeting
Tanya Plibersek (right) pictured with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter (left). Plibersek comes under fire for comment she made about Peter Dutton’s appearance
The new prime minister responded: “She already apologized.”
“There are some comments made by the former prime minister about my appearance that you may remember as part of the election campaign,” he said.
“We shouldn’t refer to people’s appearance, let’s discuss political differences.”