Greg Combet secures Cremorne Point penthouse at 17% discount

Greg Combet secures Cremorne Point penthouse at 17% discount
Jonathan ChancellorJuly 24, 2014

The retired Rooty Hill-raised Rudd/Gillard government minister Greg Combet has somewhat turned silvertail snapping up a $1.84 million rooftop Cremorne Point penthouse.

And it was bought by the former coal miner at a 17% discount.

It was recently sold, price undisclosed, after being marketed as a "house-like penthouse".

It was marketed at $1.8 million-plus after an earlier marketing campaign failed to secure close to its prior sale price.

Title Tattle recalls the penthouse had previously sold at an over-the-top $2.2 in 2007 when offloaded by Jennie Edgley, of the noted impresario family.

It came with 184 square metres of indoor/outdoor living occupying the top floor in a boutique art deco block.

It has expansive harbour views taking in bits of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

It comes with huge entertainers' terrace with a private alfresco living area.

It has three bedrooms, plus study/reading room, two bathrooms and a single lock-up garage.

The former Combet home in the Newcastle district, on the posh part, The Hill, was sold last November for $342,000 having been bought for $285,000 in 2008, shortly after the former trade union boss began his failed federal parliamentary career in joining the first Rudd ministry in December 2007. He retired at the last election.

The son of a winemaker at Penfolds at the Minchinbury Estate, Combet was the member for the Charlton electorate after coming up from Melbourne after 14 years at the ACTU. The lower Hunter Valley electorate  includes the centres of Boolaroo, Cardiff, Cooranbong, Edgeworth, Elermore Vale, Fletcher, Minmi, Morisset, Speers Point, Toronto, Wangi Wangi, and parts of Wallsend and Warners Bay.

His great-grandfather, who migrated to the Hunter from France, once owned a wine bar near Cardiff in the electorate.

It closed in the 1950s.

"Imagine my pleasure when a very elderly and frail man came into my Cardiff campaign office and, after seeing my name on the window, asked if this was where the wine bar had moved to. He did say it was a long time between drinks!," Combet mentioned in his first speech to the parliament.

He also maintained a flat in Canberra.

This week he revealed the former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard offered to resign in his favour at the height of Labor's leadership instability.

Last December the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill appointed Greg Combet to oversee the SA government's response to the car maker's plan to close, paid $160,000 annually to manage the rapid transition for the car industry prompted by Holden's departure plan.

Picture courtesy of Richard Taylor/flickr/Creative Commons.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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