Prime Minister Julia Gillard is leaving The Lodge but her office quickly clarified that the imminent departure was mostly due to necessary home improvements needed to be undertaken on the decades-old government structure.

According to Special Minister of State Gary Gray, the Canberra official residence will undergo a full-work makeover that would restore the 84-year-old building to its former glory and make it a safer place to stay.

As of the latest structural assessment conducted on The Lodge, inspectors, Gary said, called attention on its leaky roof, ageing plumbing and creaky electrical wirings that rendered the Prime Minister's residence as a fire hazard.

Engineers are looking to tear down the asbestos components of the structure and overall works will take some 18 months to complete and will cost taxpayers millions of dollars to finance the renovation though Gray had admitted that his office has yet to determine the actual cost.

He underscored, however, the need to implement the repair works, stressing that "there is a lot of work to be done ... such as massive work on the wiring - much of which is old copper wrapped in cloth, and so therefore a substantial fire risk."

"If The Lodge were a patient it would be in hospital ... and we don't expect it to be cheap. It will certainly cost in the millions of dollars," Gray was reported by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying during an interview with ABC Television.

For the whole duration of the repair works, Ms Gillard and partner Tim Mathieson will vacate The Lodge and according to Gray, an appropriate alternative will be identified to temporarily house the couple.

He hinted too that The Lodge may end up as one of Australia's heritage buildings that will be preserved and maintained by federal authorities, pointing to the likelihood that a new Prime Minister official residence will have to be built by the government.

"I think in the future that will happen, but that will be a long way down the track," Gray told ABC as he explained that the suggestion has yet to win support in the government.