Interest in the country’s private clubs is mostly rubber-necking. Still, top of the tree remains Sydney’s The Australian Club because it’s the oldest, steadfastly against women joining, and the secret plaything of prime ministers, business leaders, clergy and judges.

John Howard, Malcolm Turnbull, David Gonski and James Packer were all on the leaked 2023 membership list this newspaper published last year. As were Catholic archbishop Anthony Fisher, his Anglican counterpart Kanishka Raffel, national corruption watchdog Paul Brereton, the Federal Court’s Ian Jackman and the retired judges Terence Cole and Thomas Bathurst. Plus the disgraced Dyson Heydon.