ONE of prime minister John Gorton’s first acts after surviving a leadership challenge in 1969 was to dump Dudley Erwin as air minister. That night I phoned Erwin to ask why he had been sacked.

“It wiggles, it’s shapely, it’s cold-blooded and its name is Ainslie Gotto,” Erwin said. Sub-editors at my newspaper, wary of defamation, cut out the phrase “it’s cold-blooded”, but what remained of the quote made headlines around the country.

Gotto, appointed to run the prime minister’s office at the tender age of 22, had aroused resentment within the government because of her control over who had access to Gorton and the alleged influence she wielded — including, Erwin and others believed, over ministerial appointments.

Sometimes politics throws up delicious coincidences.

In early 2008, Gotto, by then in her early 60s, returned to Parliament House as chief of staff to a Liberal frontbench senator, Helen Coonan. Coonan’s previous chief of staff had been Peta Credlin.

That’s the same Peta Credlin who now, as chief of staff in Tony Abbott’s office, is the subject of bitter complaints that she is over-protective of the PM, shuts out alternative advice and is a control freak in dealings with other ministers.

“People expect to be treated as adults,” was the way a Cabinet minister summed up the discontent during the week.

Sexism was undoubtedly a key factor behind the muttering that saw Gotto blamed for much that went wrong in the Gorton government. And yesterday Abbott trotted out the gender argument in defence of Credlin.

“Do you really think that my chief of staff would be under this kind of criticism if her name was P-E-T-E-R as opposed to P-E-T-A?” he asked a television interviewer.

“I think people need to take a long, hard look at themselves with some of these criticisms.”

Coalition backbenchers have little to do with the PM’s chief of staff. Ministers are the ones frustrated and angry at what they call Credlin’s “command and control” approach.

So Abbott’s allegation of sexism was aimed directly at his frontbench colleagues, which is hardly likely to foster peace and harmony within the Government.

Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech ensured that 2012 ended with sexism a major theme in political commentary. Sexism was also a significant issue as 2013 drew to a close, thanks to Abbott’s inclusion of only one woman in his new Cabinet. And now, as politics winds down for the Christmas break, here it is again for the third year in a row, with the bloke who repeatedly attacked Gillard for playing the gender card unashamedly playing it himself.

It smacks more than a little of desperation, suggesting that Abbott knows the row over his chief of staff is no longer a matter of interest only to political insiders. It has gone mainstream and has the potential to seriously damage the Government because voters hate disunity.

They also dislike politicians who, as the Rudd and Gillard governments did, continually talk about themselves rather than about issues affecting their constituents.

There may be some truth in the sexism argument, but it is severely undermined by the fact that Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, the lone woman in Cabinet, is the frontbencher most openly in revolt against “command and control” from the PM’s office.

Well-placed leaks to the media have documented that.

Bishop’s attitude could have something to do with an incident in October 2012, when Abbott’s wife, Margie, gave a speech asserting that, far from being sexist, “Tony gets women”.

At that rally, Abbott told the crowd: “I’m proud of my chief of staff, Peta Credlin, who does an extraordinary job as, in some ways, the de facto deputy leader of the Opposition.” It was seen as an insult to Bishop, the real deputy leader. And she has a long memory.

NEVERTHELESS, Bishop’s defiance mirrors the annoyance of quite a few of her colleagues over interference from the PM’s office and what they see as Credlin’s attempts to micro-manage them.

Another argument Abbott used yesterday was that “this is the same office which ran a very effective opposition”. And it is true that tight discipline imposed by Credlin was crucial to Abbott’s election victory.

But government and opposition are not the same. To quote another senior Liberal: “In opposition, all attention is on the leader, who has to handle only a few issues each day. But centralising control in government is like trying to put a raging river through a funnel.”

Voices are being raised inside the Coalition suggesting Credlin’s position may become untenable. Some think a tipping point has already been reached. Which explains why speculation that a parliamentary vacancy might be created for her is gaining traction.

If Credlin becomes such a liability that she has to depart his office, Abbott will certainly not allow her to be humiliated.

LAURIE OAKES IS THE NINE NETWORK POLITICAL EDITOR