Prime Minister John Gorton secretly recorded conversations for ‘underhanded’ purposes, his press secretary revealed

A newly discovered note by John Gorton’s press secretary reveals the prime minister secretly taped conversations with political rivals, public servants and journalists.

John Gorton (left) with his then Treasurer William McMahon at Premiers Conference, Canberra, on June 26, 1969. Picture: News Limited. Historical

John Gorton installed secret ­recording devices in his prime ministerial office to capture conversations with ministers, public servants and journalists.

His private secretary, Ainsley Gotto, also had secret recording equipment to record meetings and telephone calls in her office.

Tony Eggleton, press secretary to Gorton, revealed his disapproval of these “surreptitious schemes” for “underhand purposes” in a contemporaneous note titled ‘Bugging’ of PM’s ­Office, which was written in March 1971 and has not been ­revealed before.

“One of the practices that horrified me during the Gorton era was the ‘bugging’ of activities in the prime minister’s office,” Eggleton wrote. “This was aided and abetted by Ainsley, who greatly enjoyed surreptitious schemes of this kind.”

A recording device was “concealed in a section of the bookshelves” in an adjoining office. Gorton “could operate the ­recorder by remote control through a switch on his desk”. The focus of these recordings, Eggleton explained, were of people Gorton was “suspicious” of.

During Harold Holt’s prime ministership (1966-67), a system was installed in the prime minister’s office to record press conferences and interviews. He had a microphone disguised as a pen positioned on his desk. It was fitted by a private firm.

Prime Minister John Gorton with private secretary Ainslie Gotto in 1971. Picture: News Limited

“The system was originally designed for Harold Holt to record his regular press briefings,” Eggleton wrote. “But John Gorton, encouraged by Ainsley, ­decided to use it for underhand purposes.”

Eggleton noted that Gorton recorded interviews with ministers and members of parliament without their knowledge. “I am not sure how often the PM’s office was ‘bugged’ in this way, ­although I was aware of an occasion when a meeting between Gorton and Bill McMahon was secretly recorded,” he wrote.

Gotto had a recording device attached to her telephone to ­record conversations, Eggleton noted. This system was installed in her desk drawer that could also be turned on with the “flick of a switch” without the person on the other end knowing.

“Ainsley enjoyed getting involved with ASIO officers, and she had them come over and instal (sic) a recording device that would record conversations,” Eggleton wrote. “I know she used it ­frequently.”

When Gorton became prime minister in January 1968, he ­appointed the 21-year-old Gotto as his private secretary. It was a sensation. No woman had ever ­occupied a post with such ­authority. She did not have a university degree, nor had she been a senior public servant. But Gorton trusted Gotto, who had worked for other Liberal politicians, to run his office.

Gorton was a highly unorthodox and unconventional prime minister from 1968 to 1971, who had extramarital affairs, drank too much, often escaped over the back wall of The Lodge to go to parties, distrusted his political colleagues and loathed journalists, and disliked long hours and paperwork because it bored him.

Tony Eggleton, federal director of the Liberal Party and John Gorton’s former press secretary pictured in 1979.

The prime minister and his principal private secretary sometimes met in the evenings to play back the conversations they had secretly recorded during the day, Eggleton wrote.

When Alan Ramsey, a journalist with The Australian, inter­jected from the press gallery to call Gorton “a liar” in March 1971, his apologetic phone call to Gotto was recorded. Gotto apparently ­boasted to people in the prime minister’s office that the apology was on tape.

Eggleton served as press secretary to Robert Menzies, Holt, Gorton and briefly McMahon. He later advised Billy Snedden and Malcolm Fraser, and was federal director of the Liberal Party (1975-90). He died at the age of 91 in May. Access to the Eggleton note was made with his family’s permission.

The “bugging” devices in Gorton’s office were installed by ASIO, on the instructions of Gorton and Gotto, but phone recordings could only be approved by a warrant from the attorney-general under the Telephone Communications (Interception) Act 1960. There is no evidence any such warrant was approved.

Ainsley Gotto, former Prime Minister Sir John Gorton's private secretary in 1968 photo lying on floor with Siamese cats. Picture: News/Limited.

ASIO’s perspective on the recording devices was disclosed by John Blaxland in his official history of ASIO, The Protest Years (2015). These records are now ­accessible at the National ­Archives of Australia. The Eggleton note provides new ­detail about the bugging operation from inside the prime minister’s office.

A May 1971 minute prepared for ASIO director-general Peter Barbour said Gorton requested the recording devices be installed. Another minute said the device in Gotto’s office could record phone calls and meetings. When Gorton ceased being prime minister, the devices were removed. The tapes have likely been destroyed.

A further ASIO record reveals that Gorton, after resigning as prime minister and becoming ­defence minister, asked the intelligence agency to install a bugging device on his phone. But when Gotto, who continued on Gorton’s staff, was told McMahon would have to approve, she decided not to proceed. Gorton died at age 90 in 2002 and Gotto died at age 72 in 2018. They both denied ever having a sexual relationship.