Its time to go John..
December 11, 2007 12:00am
SIXTEEN days after losing the election, former prime minister John Howard yesterday began moving out of his official Sydney residence.
Moving vans turned up at Kirribilli House just after lunch yesterday to transport Mr Howard's personal effects back to his family home in Wollstonecraft.
Mr Howard and his wife Janette shunned the Lodge in Canberra and moved into Kirribilli House after he won the federal election in 1996.
Newly elected PM Kevin Rudd, who has been hosting foreign leaders on the verandah of his Brisbane home, says he will make the Lodge in Canberra his official residence. He plans to use Kirribilli House when he is on official business in Sydney.
The Rudds have yet to set a date for moving into their new residence. And they have said they will not rush the Howards, who must now leave the residence that has been their home for more than 11 years.
As a result, Mr Rudd played host to visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at his Brisbane home over the weekend.
Mr Howard, who not only lost government but his seat of Bennelong in the November poll, has most recently taken to the golf course in his new life after politics.