Sydney sinkhole
© ABC/Ursula Malone
A sinkhole has opened up near Malcolm Turnbull's Sydney harbourside mansion rupturing a gas pipe.

Fire and Rescue NSW were called to Wentworth Street, Point Piper, this morning after the footpath collapsed following the freak weather which had smashed Sydney the day before.

"There was a leak from a gas pipe," a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman told The Australian. "It was due to the weather, now whether that is a cracked pipe or not I'm not sure at this stage.

"We were notified about it at 7.12am — we responded with a pumper, a station officer and three fire fighters. "Every pumper has air-monitoring equipment on board which can check for explosive limits and deprivation of oxygen and hydrogen sulphide.


"An hour later we sent our turntable ladders out there ... and under our protective safety procedures we put a firefighter in an air set under cover of a spray mist to go and put a clamp on the pipe."

He said the situation was now all "done and dusted". "We've clamped off the pipe, there's no gas, no danger of explosion," he said. "We've done air monitoring and the gas company are going to go there and complete the repair work."

The sinkhole opened up outside a property registered to the owner Gui. The house is believed to belong to Ke Gui, the son of Pinghu Gui, the chairman and founder of Nanjing Sinolife United.