How decades of buck-passing left the PM's pad in disrepair

Monday, 4 March 2024

ANALYSIS: Premier House, the Prime Minister’s official Wellington residence, is now in urgent need of work after 34 years and seven prime ministers’ worth of neglect.

A partial copy of a report by the Premier House board, obtained by The Post, paints the picture of a serviceable reception area for dignitaries and public groups, coupled with an uncomfortable private apartment, in a state of disrepair that probably wouldn’t pass the Government’s own healthy homes requirements.

“The Apartment only partially meets building and residential tenancy requirements and does not suit modern living requirements,” the reports states.

The decades of neglect have clearly come from a lack of leadership, political expediency, buck-passing, from a number of prime ministers spanning four separate decades.

The Government needs to take decisions on Premier House and when to refurbish it – which is understood to be estimated to cost $30 million in order to upgrade and make modest changes restoring some of its architectural integrity of the historic building.

When the heritage-listed Government House – official Wellington residence of the Governor-General – was renovated from 2008, the Clark Government put aside more than $46 million in the Budget to do the work, which was of a high quality.

“Premier House by comparison is of an average-poor standard, with fixtures and fittings in poor-fair condition at the end of useful life,” the report said.

In common with the Defence Force VIP planes (that actually do lots of different work) that also need upgrading, successive residents of Premier House have left upgrades to the next occupant.

Blaming the politicisation of even basic decisions, the report states: “there has been little spent on Premier House aside from the bare minimum required to operate and maintain the property. Even basic maintenance expenditure has been subject to widespread criticism.”

The last significant refurbishment of the apartment was in 1990.

As a metaphor for much that is wrong with New Zealand politics: Premier House is exemplary.

Real leadership from Christopher Luxon in this circumstance would be investing in the status – and basic functionality – of the office and person of Prime Minister. This is basic for a serious country, regardless of the occupant. Simply wimping out and not investing in the house, or selling it to scratch an urgent political itch, would also be far from the leadership Luxon promised when coming into the premiership.

Luxon’s political misstep, though related, was not directly about Premier House, but that he was happy to claim cash to live in his own mortgage-free apartment.

From the corporate world from which Luxon hails, this would be no big deal. Allowances are parts of contracts, in a competitive market, given for delivering for shareholders.

But in politics where Luxon is currently asking – as leader – people and public sector departments to take a hair cut and to prepare for restraint, it is politically very ill-judged.

A similarly large renovation was undertaken on The Lodge in Canberra – the Australian prime minister’s main official residence a decade ago. Those works cost $A12 million at the time.

As part of it inquiry into what is required of the House, the board asked previous residents – prime ministers and their families – and it said that a number of occupants had found it unsatisfactory.

Because of the lack of standard budget and maintenance upgrades, the property doesn’t even get nominally updated between different prime ministers – save the sheets.

“As a result, there is not a consistent approach to how the Apartment is refreshed and reset between resident. For example, fixtures and fittings are not refreshed or aligned with the change in resident, however, minor items such as bedding and linen are replaced.”

In other words, each new prime minister gets less consideration than a new resident of a standard apartment in a retirement village.

The report also notes that failure of the prime minister to live in Premier House would also come at a cost – such as the accommodation allowance (which Luxon, in this case, is now paying back), suitable provision for security guards, as well as security assessment, any alterations needed to delivery of the security assessment.

When former Finance Minister Grant Robertson was asked about Premier House in 2020, he remarked the house had “a slight 80s motel vibe to it”.

“On the night of the Netball World Cup final, I had a sleepover at Premier House and I can tell you that it is in severe need of an upgrade upstairs there … it's not up to scratch,” he said at the time.

*CORRECTION:** The Australian prime minister’s main official residence, which is in Canberra, is known as The Lodge, not Kirribilli Lodge as earlier reported. The official Sydney residence of the Australian prime minister is Kirribilli House. (Amended Monday March 4, 2024 at 7.17am)**