“I still think we are seriously misunderstood by a lot of the profession.”

Late last year, Dr Anne Tonkin ended her term as the chair of the Medical Board of Australia. She has a claim, a claim she would not make herself, to having been one of the most influential figures in medicine.

During her time, she oversaw the re-engineering of the CPD, a crackdown on the surgical shonks within the cosmetic industry and, in the face of collective opposition from the medical colleges, created a new pathway that allows eligible IMG doctors to be registered as specialists without their scrutiny or support.

And as a result of her tenure, it is highly likely that mandatory health checks will become a condition of registration for every doctor aged 70 and over.