diff --git a/hail/python/hailtop/hailctl/dataproc/cli.py b/hail/python/hailtop/hailctl/dataproc/cli.py
index 959b8ab26ad..d9c8d9d3ce1 100644
--- a/hail/python/hailtop/hailctl/dataproc/cli.py
+++ b/hail/python/hailtop/hailctl/dataproc/cli.py
@@ -192,8 +192,11 @@ def start(
         bool, Opt(help='Enable debug features on created cluster (heap dump on out-of-memory error)')
     ] = False,
     public_ip_address: Ann[
-        bool, Opt(help='Allow nodes to have a public IP address, and hence make requests on the public internet (default is internal-only from dataproc 2.2).')
-    ] = False,
+        bool,
+        Opt(
+            help='Allow nodes to have a public IP address, and hence make requests on the public internet (default is internal-only from dataproc 2.2).'
+        ),
+    ] = True,
 ):
     """
     Start a Dataproc cluster configured for Hail.