Bob Hawke’s stepson defends him amid daughter’s ALP rape claims
Bob Hawke’s stepson says the former PM loved his youngest daughter, who has claimed he told her not to report rape claims because they would harm his push to become leader.
NSW
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Bob Hawke’s stepson has come to his defence saying that claims the former prime minister told his daughter not to report that she was raped were “out of character”.
Louis Pratt, the son of Mr Hawke’s widow Blanche d’Alpuget, said that all he knew was that Mr Hawke loved his youngest daughter, Ros Dillon.
Ms Dillon, 59, threw a hand grenade into the Hawke family at the end of last week by challenging his will, claiming her father told her not to go to police in the early 1980s when she alleged she was raped by one of his union mates because it would jeopardise his chances of becoming prime minister.
“I know nothing about whether it is true or not, I was 10 at the time,” Sydney artist Mr Pratt said yesterday.
“It’s out of character. I know Bob loved Ros, she was his favourite.”
As the war over his estate became even more ugly yesterday, the family was out in force to mark what would have been Mr Hawke’s 90th birthday with the launch of a new beer, Hawke’s Legend, in his honour at Sydney’s Clock Hotel.
Ms Dillon alleges in court documents that she was raped three times by the late Victorian MP Bill Landeryou – who supported Mr Hawke’s push for the prime minister’s job – after her father used his influence to get her a job in his office.
Angry emails released yesterday revealed Ms Dillon was also upset when Ms d’Alpuget sold off Mr Hawke’s belongings at an auction after his death earlier this year.
His oldest daughter, Sue Pieters-Hawke, 62, said she loved and respected her sister Ros but did not support her challenging for a bigger slice of the $18 million estate.
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“I disagree with her on this but apart from that I won’t be making any comment,” she said at the beer launch.
“The estate is the family’s private business.”
Ms Pieters-Hawke has been reported as saying she heard about the rape allegations at the time but yesterday refused to comment on them.
She said it would be “foolish” if her sister’s claims ruined their father’s legacy.
Mr Hawke left $750,000 each to his two daughters, his son Stephen Hawke and Louis Pratt.
Ms Dillon, who claims in her affidavit filed with the Supreme Court that she was living in a one-bedroom cockroach-infested apartment, closed the blinds and refused to answer the door of the third-floor flat in Sydney’s eastern suburbs yesterday.
The former heroin addict is seeking more than $4 million including $30,000 for a fresh set of teeth.
Court documents seen by The New Daily show Mr Hawke’s grandson Paul Dillon texted Ms d’Alpuget when he discovered the auction was going ahead.
“Blanche, are you kidding with this auction?” he wrote, according to the documents which have been filed in the NSW Supreme Court.
He referred to a selection of 10 paintings by artist Harry Bilson which were sold.
He said: “Selling all the Harry Bilsons? No thought to ask the family to take furniture or anything?!!
“Don’t you have a limit?”
Ms d’Alpuget replied in the text messages she had forwarded the messaged to someone else because “I find it threatening”.
When Mr Dillon asked her which part was threatening she replied on test message: “The suggestion that I had no right to auction stuff that is legally mine.”
Mr Dillon replied that his message was not threatening and claimed that Mr Hawke had told him he could have the Harry Bilson painting Fairground Carousel, which sold for $7,800.
Ms d’Alpuget sold Mr Hawke’s possessions for $671,630 in August, after he died aged 89 in May.
While Mr Hawke backed the beer brand named after him, he made no money from it and proceeds that would have gone to him have gone instead to Landcare.
Landcare ambassador, his granddaughter Sophie Taylor-Price, pulled the first glass of Hawke’s Legend. She refused to comment on the stoush over the will.
Ms d’Alpuget told The Daily Telegraph she had been planning a “wonderful birthday party” for his milestone 90th.
“Of course I’m thinking even more about Bob today and sad he’s not here,” she said.
The fight over the will is listed for directions in the Supreme Court on February 6 next year.
On Sunday, ALP heavyweight Tanya Plibersek refused to criticise Mr Hawke, saying she knew nothing about the allegations.
But she said as a rule women should report sexual assaults to police.
“What I would say in the most general terms is that anybody who has been the victim of a sexual assault should be encouraged to take the matter to the police,” she said.
“I am not going to speculate on something I have only read about in the papers and is now before the courts.”
The claims are damaging not only for the reputation of Mr Hawke, who died in May, but also for the ALP’s image on women’s rights.
Landeryou, who died in February, was a former ALP powerbroker and Victorian minister who remained lifelong friends with the Hawke family and backed Mr Hawke to become PM.
He is the father-in-law of Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching and father of Labor figure Andrew Landeryou, neither of whom returned requests for comment on Sunday.
The Daily Telegraph understands the Landeryou family were not aware of the accusation until recently.
