Unfashionable Rudd turns his back on a free harbour view

Sydney

Eight months after the Kevin Rudd-led Labor Party swept into government, Sydneysiders are gradually coming to terms with a shift in power from the their city to the concrete canyons of Canberra.

Not only is Mr Rudd (known in China as Lu Kewen) being a Putonghua-speaking former bureaucrat suspicious enough - but he also hails from Queensland, a part of Australia quite foreign to Sydney's latte-sipping elites. Indeed, Mr Rudd is the first Queenslander to hold the top job since Andrew Fisher in 1915.

Dame Edna Everage, a character played by comedian Barry Humphries, famously predicted that her countrymen would never vote for a prime minister called Kevin - especially one who resembled a country dentist.

'He has a perpetual look of disdain on his face,' Dame Edna remarked. 'As though looking into the mouth of Australia and tut-tutting at substandard bridge work performed by someone else.'

Apart from his unfashionable first name, social conservatism and geeky image, the prime minister also carries the burden of not being from either Sydney or Melbourne, the two engine rooms of Australian politics.

But his sins to do not end there. Traditionally, the prime minister has two official residences - The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House, a mansion overlooking Sydney Harbour. The last three incumbents - John Howard, Paul Keating and Bob Hawke - always treated Kirribilli as their official residence, returning reluctantly to the Canberra chill. 'If you want a friend in Canberra, then get a dog,' Mr Keating once said.