It sits, vacant now, in one of Canberra's most desirable suburbs, Forrest, unloved by a prime minister while Mr Abbott consorts with police cadets. The $3000 a week house that is currently sitting empty. He could be bedding down in what the real estate boosters describe as a "sensational executive residence" complete with "large master suite with luxury bathroom and dressing room, three additional spacious bedrooms with lofts and main bathroom [and a] segregated guest suite with bathroom". There's a private study and children's wing featuring a large rumpus room with access to the garden, plus "marvellous entertaining areas surround 18m pool with spa and elevated cabana". There's also a basement garage for six cars, a workshop and a wine cellar, not to mention a circular driveway and electronic gates." It's costing the taxpayer $3000 a week or, in real-estate-speak, a healthy $13,035.71 per calendar month. Which comes to $156,428.51 a year.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which signed the lease, is – unsurprisingly – having trouble backing out of the deal. Which, of course, means that the owner is – you'd imagine – smiling all the way to the bank. The Lodge in Canberra: closed for repairs. The Prime Minister's Department signed up during the election campaign. Officials asked then prime minister Kevin Rudd if he'd like to inspect the property, just in case he won the election, but he was too busy. The same offer was made to Mr Abbott, but he was too busy, too. The tale of woe was told at an estimates hearing in Parliament on Monday. The prime minister's usual Canberra room and board, The Lodge, is undergoing big-time renovations and will be uninhabitable for more than eight months.

Figuring that whoever turned out to be the PM after the election might want a soft bed, a leafy view and a bit of space, the department engaged a residential broker to find a suitable alternative to The Lodge. The property, in choice Arthur Circle, Forrest, was found to be available. At $156,000 for the year, you'd imagine just about anyone would make their home available. Mr Abbott's threats to cut the public service have played havoc with Canberra's real estate market, as it happens. "The department's objective at all times was to find a property of an appropriate standard for the prime minister," said the departmental officer. "Without possums," Liberal senator Eric Abetz offered helpfully. The lease was signed on August 31 – a bit over a week before the election. Imagine the department's horror, then, when "stop the waste" Abbott became PM and decided he didn't want to occupy the place, preferring to store his pushbike in a little room at the police college a suburb away. "Since that time," the representative of the PM's department told the committee, "we have been in negotiations with the owner and the landlord and the property agent, trying to make arrangements to find an alternative tenant so that we can terminate the lease."

Loading Alas, apparently, things aren't working out just yet. "We are still in those negotiations." Liberal senator Cory Bernardi wasn't impressed. He declared it seemed "presumptuous" for the department to sign up for a $156,000-a-year lease when, as it turned out, the Prime Minister didn't want the place. "Perhaps well intentioned, but presumptuous," he added.