She is probably the most powerful woman in the country that you've never heard of. And that is exactly the way she likes it.
Not yet 40, Sally Cray sits at Malcolm Turnbull's right hand as principal private secretary to the Prime Minister, but don't let that meek-sounding word "secretary" mislead you.
Cray is Turnbull's fixer-in-chief, his counsellor and guardian, privy to his most intimate political secrets, and a warrior on his behalf.
A law graduate who got her first taste for politics as a high school student doing work experience in an MP's office, she is described as smart, highly professional, a skilled networker, vivacious and good company, but someone who can turn fierce when her boss's interests are at stake. "She can do the enforcer stuff" says an industry source. In recent weeks she has been glimpsed fleetingly on the nightly news, near Turnbull's side as he travels through Asia and the US.
Political insiders who spoke to Fairfax Media agree she is the key staffer in his life, trusted by the Turnbull family as no other, a woman who has been part and parcel of his life in politics for most of the last decade.
"She has intense personal loyalty to Malcolm," says one former staffer. "She's the gatekeeper, you have to go through her to get to Malcolm and some of the ministers resent that, but its part and parcel of the job."
Others say she sits not just at the heart of the prime ministerial office but well inside the Turnbull family circle, attending birthday parties for grandson Jack, once house-sitting for the family and socialising with them on a regular basis. She is said to be friendly with Turnbull's daughter Daisy and son-in-law James Brown.
"It's almost like they have adopted her into their family," says one former colleague. "She is absolutely the number one, apart from [Turnbull's wife] Lucy."
Media focus on Cray is not particularly welcomed by the Turnbull office.
They want no repeat of the Abbott era, when Tony Abbott's then chief of staff Peta Credlin became "the story".
Credlin openly wielded power from the prime minister's office to the point where it became a driving factor in his downfall. She exerted inordinate power over ministers and their offices, and narrowed access to Abbott so that if you couldn't get past her, you couldn't get to him.
Ms Cray, insiders say, stands at the gate but doesn't obstruct and doesn't play favourites.
Former Liberal frontbencher Sharman Stone says: "Sally brings a great deal of professionalism to the PM's office. She is not a barrier, but someone who actually smooths the way for access to her boss [and] that hasn't always been the case in the leader's office."
Cray and the slightly older Credlin worked alongside each other in Turnbull's office when he was opposition leader and there is no love lost between them. "The animosity between Credlin and Cray probably surpasses that between Abbott and Turnbull," claims one source. "Credlin often makes swipes about the standard of advice in the Turnbull office and many think that is directed at Cray."
It didn't help that Credlin allegedly blocked Cray from taking the most senior position in Turnbull's office when the latter became Communications Minister in 2013. Another source who knows both women says Cray doesn't have Credlin's "charisma" nor seeks to project power as Credlin did, but "Sally does give the PM strong counsel, she is opinionated and not afraid to express it."
Cray grew up in Traralgon, in regional Victoria, attending a Catholic college before studying arts and law at Deakin University, where she headed the student association.
Her father, Max, was a local businessman in the oil industry, and her mother, Di, worked at the Transport Accident Commission before setting up a rehabilitation training service for those with spinal cord injuries. The family encouraged a keen interest in current affairs and, at 16, Cray travelled to Canberra for two weeks' work experience with small "L" Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent, who later became famous for crossing the floor in 2006 against the Howard government's excision of the mainland from our migration zone.
Her early experience with Broadbent got Cray hooked on politics. After university she travelled to Britain, working for the City of London before returning here in 2006.
She rejoined Broadbent as a staffer, crafting key speeches and working with him on a range of hot-button issues. He credits her with overturning his initial opposition to embryonic stem cell research. "She was clearly a talent, still in her 20s but with the confidence of a 40-year-old" he says.
In early 2007 Turnbull asked her to work for him. "She said, 'I've got to go', and I said, 'You go with my blessing'," recalls Broadbent. Cray has been with Turnbull ever since, except for two years in corporate communications for the ABC between 2011 and 2013.
She was pivotal in his push for the leadership, and a trusted conduit for the Turnbull loyalists as they circled to roll Abbott.
Today she sits at the heart of power in Australia. "If Sally runs that office well, everyone does well – and that's what she's doing," says Broadbent.
