Junie Morosi

In Australia in the 1970s, Shanghai-born Junie Morosi became the first woman to take the position of Principal Private Secretary to the Federal Treasurer, Dr Jim Cairns.

The Australian press at the time had a field day.

At first, she was portrayed in newspaper stories as a “Eurasian beauty” who had worked her way into the nation’s male-dominated power structure. But then some newspapers began to raise questions about her earlier business activities and her relationship with several Labor party leaders.

Suddenly Morosi was the most sinister, deadly enemy of Australia – a member of the KGB, the Chinese mafia, you name it . . .

For the next year, Ms Morosi was seldom out of the headlines, becoming the central figure in the media campaign which eventually helped bring down the Labor government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Morosi chose, very deliberately, to give her 30-second version of events rather than fall in a heap and let the media say what they really wanted to say about her.