In 1969 Liberal Prime Prime Minister John Gorton appointed then 22-year-old Ainsley Gotto as his principal private secretary and she emerged as one of the most influential figures in Australia, running interference with powerful politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and even heads of state.

She was way ahead of her time. It was a year before the publication of Germaine Greer’s feminist treatise The Female Eunuch, 10 years before Margaret Thatcher was elected UK Prime Minister, 41 years before Julia Gillard became Australia’s first female PM and 44 years before Peta Credlin assumed Gotto’s professional mantle with incoming Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott.