Tony Abbott has been seeing Cate privately for 30 years or so - sometimes with other friends but very often alone.

Both Tony and Cate love curry and there's a particular ramshackle place in Canberra that's suited their budgets and desire for a bit of privacy in spartan surrounds.

Cate's a Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army and Cate has a remarkable story to tell.

But this for me is not about Cate. I wish Cate all the best but I don't know her and I think Cate needs real friends and not onlookers now.

This story is about Tony Abbott. The real Tony Abbott. A man for others.

For all but the last little while, when Tony's had lunch or gone out it hasn't been Cate who went with him. Tony's been with his mate Malcolm. Malcolm and Tony met when they were young blokes playing rugby and they've been best mates ever since.

Try to reconcile the Tony Abbott cartoon character created by Tony's political opponents with the real Tony Abbott you will hear Cate talk about.

Tony Abbott gets his reward from being real.

These few minutes of audio were recorded and broadcast by the ABC's "Conversations with Richard Fidler" program yesterday, 18 September 2013.

I think it's very important that Cate's dignity here is not in anyway diminished and I'll have no tolerance for that on this website. But to the extent that you can, could I ask that you do your bit to let your countrymen get the benefit of this insight into Tony Abbott, the real man. He is after all the Prime Minister for all of us.

That means sending this grab on to people like Catherine Deveney, Marieke Hardy and others who've helped to craft the Abbott neanderthal myth.

And to Lieutenant Colonel MacGregor, thank you for your service. Ma-am!