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Bob Hawke’s widow cops loss on luxury apartment

<p dir="ltr">Blanche d’Alpuget, the widow of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, has offloaded her luxury apartment in the heart of Sydney’s CBD after offering a sizable discount.</p> <p dir="ltr">With an initial price guide of $4.3-4.5 million in July, the guide was reportedly adjusted to $4.2 million in September before eventually selling for an unconfirmed $3.73 million, per <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/news/bob-hawkes-widow-blanche-dalpuget-sells-372m-luxury-pad-in-the-one30-hyde-park-sydney/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>realestate.com.au</em></a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">D’Alpuget’s two-bedroom apartment in the One30 Hyde Park tower was sold after she switched listing agents from Ray White to <a href="https://boutiquepropertyagents.com/property/1403-130-elizabeth-street-sydney-nsw-2000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boutique Property Agents</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The author and journalist moved in after she and Hawke settled on it in March 2019 and sold their waterfront property in Northbridge.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 131-square-metre apartment was originally three bedrooms before being reconfigured, and boasts views of Hyde Park and Sydney Harbour.</p> <p dir="ltr">After the apartment’s sale, d’Alpuget will be moving to the apartment tower next door, having spent $4.6 million on another apartment.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-99872eb3-7fff-9de9-27b3-848aa242d694"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images / Boutique Property Agents</em></p>

Real Estate

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New Bob Hawke book drops multiple bombshells

<p dir="ltr">Bob Hawke's widow has <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/sex-addict-bob-hawke-had-multiple-affairs-in-lodge/news-story/5ef8467f5fea97b75e66f9d30fc5b471" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> he was a sex addict who used a taxpayer-funded security team to see women in a new bombshell biography about the former PM.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-08206740-7fff-59ce-81a5-a778e6f5ffe2">The autobiography, <em>Demons and Destiny</em>, is written by Troy Bramston and contains revelations about the former Prime Minister from his second wife, Blanche d’Alpuget, among many others.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">It’s thrilling to tear open a box and hold your book for the first time! Very proud of my biography of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BobHawke?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BobHawke</a>, packed with new interviews/archival discoveries, can’t wait for people to read it. In bookshops 1 March. Pre-order <a href="https://twitter.com/PenguinBooksAus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PenguinBooksAus</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://t.co/ai0oQUkgBf">https://t.co/ai0oQUkgBf</a> <a href="https://t.co/xELhOiqlqz">pic.twitter.com/xELhOiqlqz</a></p> <p>— Troy Bramston (@TroyBramston) <a href="https://twitter.com/TroyBramston/status/1490203872077492225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Ms d’Alpuget has revealed that her late husband had at least four lovers during his stint as Prime Minister, and that he used extramarital sex as a form of stress relief while he was still married to his first wife, Hazel Hawke.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Sex will calm people down, and he was a very highly strung man,” she said. “At the end of a day of intense activity, he somehow had to let off steam, as it were, and there’s nothing like a roll in the hay or five to do that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">When asked if she believed her late husband was a sex addict, Ms d’Alpuget replied, “I think so.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The new biography contains several other surprising revelations, including that Mr Hawke’s longest-running affair was with Jean Sinclair, his personal assistant at the Australian Council of Trade Unions, who was also married.</p> <p dir="ltr">Their affair continued during his time in parliament, as she went on to join his parliamentary and prime ministerial staff.</p> <p dir="ltr">The biography also reveals that Mr Hawke visited Ms Sinclair several times as she battled cancer in a Melbourne hospital in 1991, and that he was too distressed to speak at her funeral.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms d’Alpuget, whose affair with Mr Hawke was on-and-off from 1976, said he was even unfaithful to her during their marriage.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Getting in to see him at The Lodge was (often) the only palace that we could meet,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">She also recalled a particular rendezvous where she wore a red wig and stetson hat to meet Mr Hawke, and that they “rushed into each other’s arms, laughing” upon seeing each other.</p> <p dir="ltr">Roger Martindale, the former head of Mr Hawke’s VIP protection service, revealed that the Australian Federal Police sometimes drove him to see his paramours so he wouldn’t gain extra attention from driving his Commonwealth car with its Australian flag.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We were all adults,” Mr Martindale explained. “He never asked anything of us. He just expected discretion from everybody.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Wendy McCarthy, a friend of Hazel, said she was less concerned with her husband’s affairs and more with his drinking.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The alcohol mattered more than the affairs,” Ms McCarthy said. “She would not have been happy about it but there was nothing she could do about it. She was resigned to it.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The autobiography claims Mr Hawke nearly drank himself to death during the 1970s, despite claiming he gave up drinking when he became Prime Minister.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Demons and Destiny</em> will be published in March, 2022.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e8daa301-7fff-786c-55a6-915588ab7e3b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Books

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The moment that made Bob Hawke come clean

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When former Prime Minister Bob Hawke shared that he was leaving his wife - and mother of his four children - the news came as one of the biggest scandals in Australian political history.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hawke admitted to having a two-decade-long affair with journalist and author Blanche d’Alpuget while married to Hazel Hawke.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hawke was the first of Australia’s Prime Ministers to divorce when he ended his marriage four years after leaving office. </span></p> <p><strong>The wake-up call</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The affair began in 1976 and ended a few years later with the pair remaining with their respective partners until the mid-1980s.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hawke and d’Alpuget had no contact following the publication of Hawke’s biography - written by d’Alpuget - in 1982.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">D’Alburget divorced from husband Tony Pratt in 1986, and a surprise call from Hawke asking to meet her resparked their affair.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They continued to meet in secret until 1992, when the politician had his wake-up call.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following a light plane crash in Queensland involving d’Alpuget, Hawke’s belief that she had died in the incident left him devastated.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After discovering she had come out of the crash completely fine, Hawke realised he had to come clean about the affair so he could be with her.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Within two years, Hawke had divorced Hazel and married d’Alpuget.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though Hazel and Hawke had a difficult marriage - with Hawke’s heavy drinking and infidelity causing a lot of strife - he still cared for her.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After her death in 2013, Hawke said: “I remember Hazel with a deep affection and gratitude. She was more than a wife and mother, being father as well during my frequent absences as I pursued an industrial then political career.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hazel died in 2013 at age 83, after being diagnosed with dementia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bob Hawke died in 2019, aged 89, after a short illness.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: 9honey</span></em></p>

Relationships

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"Struggling to survive": Blanche d’Alpuget speaks about late Bob Hawke

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>It's been almost two years since former Prime Minister Bob Hawke passed away and his wife of 24 years Blanche d’Alpuget remembers him with "great affection and admiration".</p> <p>Hawke died at the age of 89 on May 16th, 2019.</p> <p>D’Alpuget spoke with Michael Usher on<span> </span><em>The Latest</em><span> </span>on Thursday night about how her life has changed since her husband passed away as well as dealing with her grief and battling breast cancer.</p> <p>“It took up so much of my time, because first I had months of chemotherapy, and then I had to recover from that,” she said.</p> <p>“Then I had a big surgery and recover from that, and then have more drugs pumped into me.</p> <p>“So in a way, the first anniversary of his death wasn’t as bad because I was just struggling to survive.”</p> <p>As she struggled with chemotherapy, she felt "so tired".</p> <p>“But there’s a feeling of sisterhood and brotherhood between all people who’ve experienced cancer, really; only they know what it’s like,” she said.</p> <p>“I didn’t think I was going to die during any of it; I knew I was going to survive.”</p> <p>She also reflected on Hawke before he passed away as he became "sweeter and sweeter" as he got older.</p> <p>“It was really wonderful. Our love just got stronger and stronger,” she said.</p> <p>“My life is simpler now, but it’s missing an element, a very large element.”</p> </div> </div> </div>

Caring

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The Bob Hawke and Paul Keating interview that almost never happened

<p>Ray Martin has reminisced on a 1989 TV interview between former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating that almost never happened.</p> <p>The two politicians sat down for their first TV interview together on the<span> </span><em>Midday Show </em>over 30 years ago during a period where the pair had been at the helm of the Australian government for seven years.</p> <p>Former host of the show, Ray Martin told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/latest/ray-martin-bob-hawke-paul-keating-midday-show-exclusive/1c578c45-1db6-4dec-af96-f2cdc151325c" target="_blank"><em>9 Entertainment</em></a><em> </em>that the legendary interview almost never happened.</p> <p>"They didn't want to be there. Bob Hawke's people talked him into it," Martin said.</p> <p>"On the day there was fog in Canberra and Keating rang up the producer and said he couldn't make it, that the fog was blocking the plane, so we got in touch with Hawke's office and he arranged for an RAF plane to fly him down so he couldn't get out of it."</p> <p>The interview had the entire nation talking.</p> <p>"We got enormous publicity. We saw two extraordinary, powerful political creatures who both wanted to be Prime Minister, but only one was and he wasn't going to step aside," Martin recalled.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.3573883161512px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7838860/the-midday-show-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/256a362f3b1b43838747020aac545396" /></p> <p>Soon after the episode went to air, a report revealed that Hawke and Keating had met with each other at Kirribilli House for a secret meeting 12 months prior.</p> <p>Together they had decided that Hawke would step aside after two years to allow Keating to move into the role of Prime Minister.</p> <p>However, the TV interview made it clear that Hawke no longer had that intention.</p> <p>"He was talking to me about staying for another four years, I didn't know that he had a deal that he was only going to stay for two years," Martin said.</p> <p>"When you look back now you can see Paul Keating was obviously miffed that here before a million people the boss was saying 'I'm not stepping aside'."</p> <p>Martin says Keating wasn't at all happy with how he came across in the in interview.</p> <p>"I'm not sure Paul Keating liked it or ever forgave us for it, but I think he bears grudges,” he recounted.</p> <p>“But Hawke would have moved on. Paul was a far more private character for a public figure."</p>

News

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Bob Hawke’s widow opens up about "sheer hell" after his death

<p>Blanche d’Alpuget, a writer and widow of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, has opened up about the “sheer hell” of breast cancer treatment, saying she almost skipped it at first.</p> <p>Sitting down with A Current Affair’s Tracy Grimshaw, Blanche spoke candidly about the grief following Mr Hawke’s death in May last year.</p> <p>“I had eight weeks of chemotherapy which was sheer hell,” she said. ”Then I had to have four weeks recovery to get over that, the operation. I had the operation and now I’m having immotherapy so that’s a bit more poison.”</p> <p>The treatment left her feeling “very tired” and “dopey”, and due to the coronavirus pandemic, she wasn’t able to take public transport or sit in taxis.</p> <p>Blanche discovered a giant lump in her breast one day while changing her clothes, saying it “was like a mushroom had come up overnight”.</p> <p>“I had one mammogram and it hurt, I‘ve never had another one … it was quite a surprise and serves me right, really,” she said.</p> <p>She has been told that her stage two breast cancer was hormone sensitive and she questions if it has to due with her taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after Mr Hawke’s death.</p> <p>When she was diagnosed, Blanche revealed she was in “shock and disbelief” and almost considered not going through with the treatment.</p> <p>But she changed her mind after thinking about her son, Louis Pratt.</p> <p>“Well, it was really thinking about my son and how horrendous it would be if it had gone through first lung cancer, then brain cancer, and that’s what spooked me – the thought of that,” Ms d’Alpuget said.</p>

Caring

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Bob Hawke’s widow faces heartbreaking cancer diagnoses less than a year after husband’s death

<p>Bob Hawke’s widow Blanche d’Alpuget has been diagnosed with breast cancer less than one year after the death of her “soulmate”.</p> <p>The 76-year-old recently revealed that she is undergoing chemotherapy at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Darlinghurst, Sydney.</p> <p>“I detected the lump in my left breast about six or seven weeks ago,” she told<span> </span><em>The Sunday Telegraph</em>.</p> <p>Ms d’Alpuget strongly advised older women to get their breasts checked regularly after discovering the cancerous lump by “accident”.</p> <p>“You never think you’re going to get cancer – not at my age, but it happens. I’d like to encourage all older women to have their breasts checked. I found the lump by accident,” she said.</p> <p>Her husband and former prime minister died last year on May 16, aged 89. He held office from 1983 to 1991, making him the longest serving Labor leader.</p> <p>The news comes after Mr Hawke’s youngest daughter, Ms Dillon is contesting his will and claiming the $750,000 he left each of his children isn’t enough.</p> <p>Ms Dillon has demanded funds to purchase a $2.5 million house in Sydney – furnished with towels worth $4000 – and wants $30,000 for a new set of teeth.</p> <p>Ms d’Alpuget will face her stepdaughter for a private mediation on May 7 – less than two weeks before the first anniversary of Mr Hawke’s death.</p>

News

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Bob Hawke's widow responds to Rosslyn Dillon's rape claims

<p>Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s widow Blanche d’Alpuget says that she “didn’t know anything” about shocking claims that Hawke told his daughter not to report an alleged rape as it would negatively impact his career.</p> <p>Rosslyn Dillon alleged in an affidavit that she was raped by Labor MP Bill Landeryou in the 1980s and Hawke covered it up to protect his career.</p> <p>As neither man can defend the allegations due to their passing, it is up to Hawke’s widow to defend her former husband.</p> <p>“I didn't know anything, and I can't say anything,” Ms d'Alpuge said at the launch for her revised book 'Bob Hawke: The Complete Biography' in Sydney's north shore on Sunday,<em> <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/blanche-dalpuget-says-she-knew-nothing-of-bob-hawke-daughters-rape-claims/news-story/7b6a25cc09e07735ed6a070a4c829592" target="_blank">The Australian</a></em> reported. </p> <p>“I don't know what she said.”</p> <p>The 75 year old added that she had been advised by her lawyers to not comment on the incident.</p> <p>She also referred to advice from her lawyers when she was questioned about Rosslyn Dillon’s request for claims to the Hawke estate.</p> <p>D'Alpuget said she is worried about her late husband’s daughter after the death of Hawke earlier this year.</p> <p>“I am very concerned that Rosslyn is grieving so much, I really feel for her,” she said.</p> <p>Rosslyn claims that when she told her father of the allegations in the 1980s, he said “You can’t go to the police”, according to<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/12/07/hawke-daughter-rape-legal/" target="_blank">The New Daily</a>.</em></p> <p>“You can't go to the police. You can't. I can't have any controversies right now. I am sorry but I am challenging for the leadership of the Labor Party,” Hawke is alleged to have said.</p> <p>Rosslyn said that she was “shocked and hurt that her father asked this of me” in the 25-page affidavit.</p> <p>“I thought to myself I could not make any bigger sacrifice to the (my father’s) political career if I had tried,'' the affidavit continues.</p> <p>"He asked me to let the matter go for him and I did so for him.</p> <p>"I am still haunted by the sexual assaults. I feel that I may have had a chance to get over these rapes if I was able to report the incidents to police."</p>

News

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Bob Hawke’s family speaks up on daughter’s rape allegations

<p>Bob Hawke’s family has spoken up on the allegations made by his youngest daughter.</p> <p>Rosslyn Dillon has reportedly claimed she was raped by former Victorian Labor MP Bill Landeryou but was urged by her father not to report the assaults to protect his leadership ambitions.</p> <p>The allegations were part of a 25-page affidavit submitted in the New South Wales supreme court as part of Dillon’s legal challenge against her father’s $18 million estate, <em><a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/12/07/hawke-daughter-rape-legal/">The New Daily</a> </em>reported.</p> <p>In the document, Dillon claims Landeryou, who died in February this year, sexually assaulted her three times in the 1980s.</p> <p>Dillon alleges her father told her to remain silent about the claims, saying, “You can’t go to the police. You can’t. I can’t have any controversies right now. I am sorry but I am challenging for the leadership of the Labor Party.”</p> <p>Dillon said she was “shocked and hurt” by her father’s request. “I thought to myself I could not make any bigger sacrifice to [my father’s] political career if I had tried,” she reported in the affidavit.</p> <p>“He asked me to let the matter go for him and I did so for him.</p> <p>“I am still haunted by the sexual assaults. I feel that I may have had a chance to get over these rapes if I was able to report the incidents to police.”</p> <p>Dillon’s sister Sue Pieters-Hawke told the publication the Hawke family had been aware of the allegations.</p> <p>“I love and support my sister,” Pieters-Hawke said. “She did tell people at the time. I believe there was a supportive response but it didn’t involve using the legal system.”</p> <p>On Monday, Pieters-Hawke was again asked about her sister’s allegations in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-09/hawke-daughter-rape-claim/11777600">an event commemorating what would have been her father’s 90<sup>th</sup> birthday</a>.</p> <p>“I think that’s the subject of an affidavit which may or may not be tested in court and I’m not going to comment on any of that,” she said.</p> <p>Asked whether the allegations might change people’s perception of her father, Pieters-Hawke said, “I hope not. I think it would be foolish if they did and I think as many of you [would] be foolish if you contributed to that.”</p> <p>Dillon’s step-brother Louis Pratt said he learned about the claims from the news. “We’re all surprised, obviously. Because I know that Bob loved Rosslyn very much and I know what his character is, so it’s surprising,” Pratt said.</p> <p>Hawke’s will awarded $750,000 for each of his three children and his stepson Pratt, with the remainder of the estate going to his wife Blanche d’Alpuget.</p> <p>Dillon is making a $4 million claim on her father’s estate.</p> <p>Hawke’s first bid for the Labor leadership in July 1982 was unsuccessful. He went on to succeed Bill Hayden as Labor leader the following year and won the March 5 election to become prime minister.</p>

News

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Bob Hawke’s daughter alleges he told her not to report rape by former Labor MP

<p>The daughter of late former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Rosslyn Dillon, has come out with explosive allegations claiming a Labor MP from the 1980s raped her but was asked by her father not to report it to police.</p> <p>First published on<span> </span><em>The New Daily</em>, the allegations were made in a $4 million legal claim Ms Dillon has made on her father’s estate.</p> <p>In an affidavit lodged with the NSW Supreme Court, Ms Dillon alleged that she informed her dad in the ‘80s about the incident, to which he told her not to go to the police.</p> <p>“You can’t go to the police. You can’t. I can’t have any controversies right now. I am sorry but I am challenging for the leadership of the Labor Party,” he apparently told her.</p> <p>As reported by<span> </span><em>The New Daily</em>, Ms Dillon says in the affidavit that she remains “haunted” by the sexual assaults allegedly committed by late Victorian Labor MP Bill Landeryou.</p> <div> <div class="reply-list-component"> <div class="reply-component"> <div class="reply-body-component"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply-body-wrapper"> <div class="reply-body-inner"> <div class="body_text "> <p>Labor MP Tanya Plibersek said she could not comment on specific allegations because of the legal action, but said “in the most general terms, anybody who has been the victim of a sexual assault should be encouraged to take the matter to police to have it dealt with properly, to be thoroughly investigated.”</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div class="new-reply-component"></div> </div>

News

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Bob Hawke’s eldest daughter breaks silence on legal stoush over will

<p><span>Bob Hawke’s eldest daughter has broken her silence on her sister’s legal battle over the former prime minister’s will.</span></p> <p><span>Two months after the Labor veteran died in May, <em><a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2019/07/16/bob-hawke-will/">The New Daily</a></em> reported that Hawke awarded $750,000 to each of his three children – Sue Pieters-Hawke, Stephen Hawke and Rosslyn Dillon – as well as his stepson Louis Pratt, and left the rest of his multimillion-dollar estate to his wife Blanche d’Alpuget in his will.</span></p> <p><span>The outlet also reported that Dillon was preparing to take legal action against d’Alpuget for a greater share of her father’s estate.</span></p> <p><span>In a new interview with <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/sue-pieters-hawke-shares-stories-about-her-father,/11715758">7.30</a></em>, Dillon’s older sister Pieters-Hawke said she believed her provision was adequate.</span></p> <p><span>“I don’t share that dispute,” Pieters-Hawke said.</span></p> <p><span>“I love and respect my sister. I don’t share her view on this one and beyond that, I honestly regard it as a private family matter.</span></p> <p><span>“I’m grateful for what I received. It’s made a difference to me in my life. It is mostly locked away but it means I don’t have to have financial anxiety.</span></p> <p><span>“I can supplement the pension, along with work and whatever, and my kids don’t have to worry about me.</span></p> <p><span>“I’m really happy about that and I can respect that other people have different views. That’s fine.”</span></p> <p><span>Dillon has reportedly engaged Sydney family law specialists Tiyce &amp; Lawyers to represent her in challenging the will. If a private agreement could not be reached between the parties, the matter will proceed to the NSW Supreme Court.</span></p>

Legal

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Lifetime of treasure: Bob Hawke's personal collection to go under the hammer

<p>Former prime minister Bob Hawke’s treasure trove of paintings, art works, designer furniture, diplomatic gifts and serving ware are set to be auctioned off in a home clearance sale expected to raise $250,000.</p> <p>Hawke’s widow Blanche d’Alpuget is selling 300 items from the couple’s Northbridge home in Sydney's leafy north short – which was recently sold for an estimated $15 million – with the help of auctioneers Shapiro.</p> <p>Among the items on offer are the former prime minister’s cigar boxes, porcelain tea sets and coffee mugs. The couple’s sterling silver soup ladle will also be put up for sale at an estimated price of $100 to $200.</p> <p>Some of the former ACTU leader’s diplomatic gifts include Chinese scrolls ($300 to $500), a pill box from the Freedom of the City of London ($300 to $500) and a silver bowl inscribed “Presented by Dick Cheney Secretary of Defence, United States of America” ($500-$700).</p> <p>There will also be a framed and signed photo of Don Bradman ($800 to $1200) and two black-and-white pictures of Bob Hawke playing tennis ($200 to $300).</p> <p>Some boozes from Hawke’s collection will also make an appearance, including bottles of Chinese liquors (ranging from $100 to $500), a box of Penfolds cabernet sauvignon ($200 to $300), and a six pack of the Labor veteran’s lager beers in a signature esky ($200 to $300).</p> <p>The most expensive item to be auctioned is Euan Macleod’s 1991 oil painting titled Lone Figure in Gully, which is expected to sell for $14,000 to $18,000.</p> <p>The items will be available for public viewing on August 24-25 at the couple’s Northbridge residence with a $5 entry fee, said auctioneer Andrew Shapiro.</p> <p>“I think people are curious about what was dear to his heart. We will be selling his desk and a lot of personal items given to him when he was prime minister,” Shapiro said.</p> <p>Shapiro said d’Alpuget is ready to take the next step in her life after selling the house. </p> <p>“She’s a strong-willed person and looking towards the next move,” he told <a rel="noopener" href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/08/06/bob-hawke-memorabilia-auction/" target="_blank"><em>The New Daily</em></a>.</p> <p>“It’s always difficult to live in a house where you’ve been for many years with a spouse. There’s a new chapter.”</p> <p>The auction will take place on August 27 at Paddington RSL in Sydney.</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery above to see the items going under the hammer later this month.</p>

Legal

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The major brawl brewing over Bob Hawke's will

<p>Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s daughter and his widow are currently battling it out over his multi-million dollar will.</p> <p>His daughter, Rosslyn Dillion, is preparing to take legal action against Blanche d’Alpuget and let her stepmother know of her intentions in a tense phone call.</p> <p>The contestation of the will comes after Dillon discovered that after the payout of $750,000, which includes the proceeds of the $15 million sale of a Northbridge home, there are no further provisions for his three children in the will.</p> <p>The rest of the estate will be going to d’Alpuget, his wife and biographer, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2019/07/16/bob-hawke-will/" target="_blank"><em>The New Daily</em></a>.</p> <p>The current arrangement that was struck up separately to Mr Hawke’s will has his three children, Susan Pieters-Hawke, Stephen Hawke and Rosslyn Dillon being awarded around $750,000 immediately upon his death in a payment from d’Alpuget.</p> <p>The payment was also awarded to d’Alpuget’s son, Louis Pratt, upon the death of Mr Hawke.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 258.385px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7828669/1563191989-screen-shot-2019-07-15-at-94113-pm.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/336f1b0b04b34e2e993ba38cc103a07c" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Rosslyn Davis talking to ABC's 7:30</em></p> <p>Unless a private agreement is struck between the parties, the matter will proceed to the NSW Supreme Court. It will be on the grounds of inadequate family provision.</p> <p>Mr Hawke’s three children were estranged from their stepmother for many years after their father remarried in 1995, but had repaired the relationship in recent years.</p> <p>However, there was a hint of family issues at the memorial of Mr Hawke, as d’Alpuget mentioned his “eldest daughter Sue Pieters-Hawke” twice in her speech but did not mention her two siblings.</p> <p>d’Alpuget also hinted at family issues in her book<em> Hawke: Prime Minister</em> as she outlined that Rosslyn first ran away from home as a 15-year-old schoolgirl. She was later found by her father and his friend in a drug den in Sydney.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7828671/blanche.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2124f4e2c2b3468989855dbba5ad7149" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Bob Hawke and Blanche d'Alpuget at the book launch of Hawke: The Prime Minister</em></p> <p>“It was obvious to everyone who knew Rosslyn and her husband, who partied with the Brett and Wendy Whiteley crowd, that they were using heroin; everyone, that is, except her parents, who clung steadfastly to the belief that their daughter did not use hard drugs,” d’Alpuget wrote.</p> <p>“The news from the hospital in the first week of August that the new mother was so wasted by heroin she could soon be dead fell on Hawke like a blow from an axe.”</p> <p>In 2011, there was also reports of an “airport brawl” between Sue Pieters-Hawke and d’Alpuget.</p> <p>“I approached her to say a friendly hello, but she slapped me hard three or four times, and yes, I was shaken,” Ms Pieters-Hawke said to ABC’s <em>7:30</em>.</p>

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“He loved Australians and they loved him back”: Bob Hawke farewelled in Sydney

<p>Australians around the country have come together on the steps of the Opera House to pay tribute to political heavyweight and former prime minister Bob Hawke.</p> <p>Hawke passed away peacefully at his Sydney home on May 16, aged 89, and his death took the entire world by surprise.</p> <p>Having touched several lives with his work as prime minister, thousands of well-wishers flocked to the iconic Sydney monument – the place where Hawke launched a number of his campaigns.</p> <p>Hours before the ceremony, hundreds began lining up to watch the ceremony unfold, which they broadcasted on a giant screen.</p> <p>Family, friends and other prominent figures joined his widow Blanche d’Alpuget to honour his legacy and share a few words.</p> <p>“How do you measure a giant?” asked Labor leader Anthony Albanese, as he took to the stage to deliver a powerful eulogy.</p> <p>“Bob Hawke was not towering physically but somehow he seemed bigger than all of us.”</p> <p>“He loved Australians and they loved him back. It was indeed a national romance.</p> <p>“He loved us together because we understood that our greatest strengths flow from unity. He reached out, he listened, he learned, he encouraged, and he dared, dared us to be a better nation.”</p> <p>Also taking to the stage was Hawke’s former colleague and rival Paul Keating, who spoke about the success they achieved together while at the forefront of the party.</p> <p>“I think I can say the template which we and our remarkable cabinet colleagues set into place in those 13 years has provided the foundations for Australia’s burgeoning growth and wealth in a fundamental sense, ever since really,” he said.</p> <p>Before the service begun, Hawke's family reflected on their time with the man who changed the country for the better.</p> <p>His wife Blanche, children and grandchildren were some of the first to arrive to the ceremony.</p> <p>With so many of the guests invited sharing their memories of the politician he was, his son Stephen simply stated two words: “My dad”.</p> <p>“It’s really not much more complicated than that – he was my old man,” he told the<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/" target="_blank"><em>ABC</em></a>.</p> <p>“He wasn’t the perfect father, but he was very much a loving father and was loved in return by all of us.”</p> <p>His daughter Sue Pieters-Hawke said she’d “always be proud of what dad did” as he provided “hope and belief” to Australians.</p> <p>She fondly remembered her time spent with him as a child.</p> <p>“Back in the day there were weekend mornings with just Steve, Ros and I, the dog and the cat, all sprawled with Mum and Dad on their bed, reading newspapers, playing boardgames, telling stories, and listening and chattering away,” she said.</p> <p>His wife concluded the tributes, asking his legion of fans to stop mourning and to celebrate his life instead.</p> <p>“We smile again, we glow with pride for the presence among us for almost 90 years of a great human being,” she said.</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery above to see photos from Bob Hawke’s memorial service.</p>

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Blanche d'Alpuget opens up: Bob Hawke was "more than prepared" for death

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>Former prime minister Bob Hawke was “more than prepared” for death, his wife Blanche d'Alpuget has revealed.</p> <p>In her first interview since Hawke’s death, d’Alpuget told Leigh Sales on ABC’s <em>7.30</em> that he was ready for the end of his life as he could not “make any further contribution”.</p> <p>The country’s 23rd prime minister died last week at the age of 89.</p> <p>She said, “In fact two days before he died, we had a friend over here, a very old friend, and he said, ‘Well, it’s not long now. It’s very soon.’</p> <p>“He said to me, ‘I can’t make any further contribution. I’ve got no contribution to make now.’ Which was one of the reasons he wanted to die because he thought of his life as contributing to society.”</p> <p>d’Alpuget revealed that the former Labor leader did not vote in the federal election before he died. “He decided he wasn’t going to postal vote,” she said. “He was going to go up in his wheelchair and vote, but he didn’t get there.”</p> <p>Given Labor’s shocking loss, she said it was “probably a good thing that he died when he did”.</p> <p>She said while the final year of Hawke’s life was difficult, it was also “one of the best times of our lives”.</p> <p>d’Alpuget shared that being her husband’s carer gave her a new perspective on their relationship. </p> <p>“We often said to each other, we’ve been blessed to have this period together,” she said.</p> <p>“We had the joy of mature love and then the love of old age.</p> <p>“People don’t realise — now I really am not going to cry — how wonderful it can be to look after somebody you love when they’re old and dying.</p> <p>“There’s a great deal of intimacy. There, there are no secrets, there are no pretenses. You’re getting the true human being on both sides.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/leighsales?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leighsales</a>: How do you think the love of old age does differs to young love? Because people don't talk about this very often.<br />Blanche: There's a great deal of softness. There's a great deal of intimacy. There are no secrets, there are no pretenses. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc730?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc730</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://t.co/5wUgkJqqqx">pic.twitter.com/5wUgkJqqqx</a></p> — abc730 (@abc730) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/1131492716150263809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>When discussing Hawke’s public achievements, d’Alpuget said her husband was most proud of his role in helping end apartheid, ban mining on Antarctica and the release of Nelson Mandela.</p> <p>The rivalry between Hawke and Paul Keating had also dissolved in recent years, d’Alpuget said. “Paul really wanted to come over and see him, it was lovely. And it was great. They sat and they yarned about old times. Paul came a few times.</p> <p>“They always took each other’s phone calls, where there were party issues to discuss. So it wasn’t as the press presented this. It wasn’t at all like that.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Statement from Blanche d’Alpuget on Bob Hawke’s passing. <a href="https://t.co/oA39fxzZNT">pic.twitter.com/oA39fxzZNT</a></p> — Craig Emerson (@DrCraigEmerson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrCraigEmerson/status/1128959806105014272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>d’Alpuget released the statement on Hawke’s death last week. “Bob was dearly loved by his family, and so many friends and colleagues. We will miss him,” she wrote.</p> <p>“The golden bowl is broken.”</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

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“You sad tiny man”: Lee Lin Chin slams Tony Abbott for Bob Hawke tribute

<p>With former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke passing away, he’s being remembered as one of the nation’s greatest leaders.</p> <p>Many tributes have flown in, remembering the man and his contributions to the nation. However, when former Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a tribute as well, his stood out for all the wrong reasons.</p> <p>"Bob Hawke was a great prime minister," Mr Abbott wrote of the 89-year-old in an official statement.</p> <p>"In my judgement, he was Labor's greatest prime minister.</p> <p>"But his key achievements, financial deregulation, tariff cuts and the beginnings of privatisation, went against the Labor grain, as Labor's more recent policy direction shows.</p> <p>"You might almost say he had a Labor heart, but a Liberal head.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">Statement on the death of The Hon Bob Hawke AC, GCL: <a href="https://t.co/M8fzbFlVTE">pic.twitter.com/M8fzbFlVTE</a></p> — Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyAbbottMHR/status/1128969163911811072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">16 May 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Many have accused Abbott of using the tribute as a last-ditch effort to gain votes for the electorate of Warringah.</p> <p>Many Australian politicians, celebrities as well as annoyed citizens lashed out at the former Liberal Prime Minister online. This included Lee Lin Chin.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">You want to make Bob Hawkes death about politics <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyAbbottMHR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TonyAbbottMHR</a>? Okay, let's do it. He was a better Prime Minister than you ever were, but to be fair so was every other one including Scott Morrison you sad tiny man.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPHawkey?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIPHawkey</a></p> — Lee Lin Chin (@LeeLinChin) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeeLinChin/status/1128994383347322882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">16 May 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Chin was scathing in her criticism, saying:</p> <p>“You want to make Bob Hawkes death about politics Tony Abbott? Okay, let’s do it. He was a better Prime Minister than you ever were, but to be fair so was every other one including Scott Morrison you sad tiny man.”</p> <p>Others were quick to condemn the statement.</p> <p>“You lack grace. In fact, you are complete trash,” Labor MP Nick Staikos wrote.</p> <p>“You’re trying to score political points from the death of one of Australia’s greatest public figures within hours of his passing?” journalist Paul Syrvet said on Twitter.</p> <p>Australian comedian Tom Gleeson succinctly said:</p> <p>“This tribute to one of Australia’s most loved PMs by Tony Abbott, reminds you why he is one of the most loathed.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">This tribute to one of Australia’s most loved PMs by Tony Abbott, reminds you why he is one of the most loathed. <a href="https://t.co/lwTnx0YQhV">https://t.co/lwTnx0YQhV</a></p> — Tom Gleeson (@nonstoptom) <a href="https://twitter.com/nonstoptom/status/1128975408693514240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">16 May 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Australian Financial Review’s Joe Aston said that Abbott’s comments were “actually disgusting”, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/tony-abbott-slammed-bob-hawke-tribute-214818946.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFZ4m5FEWzLbY-1qfPltwuuk9mlrvSGNPi3RCgAiSTNZBRVkaPpief5Cv7IifBTqCUUjs1WQh9zHRcNyZVenyNwUYUD-CwmzGdy9eC5wAiRurOdUMF0OlY7A6vMri4CTC_tQai1kXS5hlWJiHDmFCC7MH_N5w2rqZbu2EfYoNqDN" target="_blank">Yahoo! News</a>.</p> <p>“[Tony Abbott] uses Bob Hawke's death to make a political point. Apologies to the late Ann Shorten, but this surely sets a new campaign low,” the journalist said.</p> <p>The backlash was too much for Abbott, who appeared to make a more heartfelt tribute later, but for many, the damage had been done.</p> <p>“Too late,” dozens of comments read.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">Being more awful than your regular awfulness is an incredible achievement.</p> — Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) <a href="https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1128991043641331718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">16 May 2019</a></blockquote>

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John Howard remembers Bob Hawke: "Undoubtedly a very fine Prime Minister"

<p>Former and current Australian leaders have shared their memories of Bob Hawke following the former prime minister’s death on Thursday at the age of 89.</p> <p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Hawke was a “political legend” and Labor’s greatest prime minister.</p> <p>“Profoundly Australian, Bob Hawke was a conviction politician who became a political legend,” Morrison said in a statement. “We remember him for his unique capacity to speak to all Australians as one – from everyday battlers to business leaders.</p> <p>“It was his ability to connect with everyday Australians – with a word, with that larrikin wit, with that connection and an understanding of everyday Australian life – that we will most remember Bob Hawke.”</p> <p>Labor leader Bill Shorten paused his election campaign on Thursday evening to honour the party’s longest-serving prime minister. “The nation and Labor are in mourning,” said Shorten in a speech from Sydney. “We have lost a favourite son. Bob Hawke loved Australia and Australia loved Bob Hawke.”</p> <p>Julia Gillard, who was the prime minister from 2010 to 2013, remembered Hawke as an inspiration, a friend and “Australia’s greatest peacetime leader”. She said Hawke approached the end of his life with serenity. “When I last saw Bob, he was facing his own mortality with a sense of calm. He was ready and taking great comfort looking back on a life lived so well.”</p> <p>Another recent Labor leader, Kevin Rudd praised Hawke for his ability to unite the people of the country. “Bob Hawke was an Australian institution,” Rudd said. “He could connect with any Australian, workers, academics and business leaders alike. And when elected as Prime Minister, he was able to bring the country together like no other.”</p> <p>Former Labor leader Paul Keating, who served as Hawke’s treasurer before successfully challenging his leadership in 1991, said the legacy of their partnership was “the monumental foundations of modern Australia”.</p> <p>“With Bob Hawke's passing today, the great partnership I enjoyed with him passes too … But what remains and what will endure from that partnership are the monumental foundations of modern Australia,” Keating said in a statement.</p> <p>“The country is much the poorer for Bob Hawke’s passing.”</p> <p>Earlier this month, Keating and Hawke made their first <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/money-banking/a-dubious-proposition-even-for-him-bob-hawke-and-paul-keating-reunite-to-slam-pm-scott-morrison/" target="_blank">joint statement</a> in 28 years in support of Shorten’s run for the prime ministership.</p> <p>Former Liberal prime minister John Howard said while he and Hawke “clashed fiercely on many occasions”, the two enjoyed each other’s company outside of politics. “He was undoubtedly a very fine prime minister,” Howard told ABC Radio National on Friday.</p> <p>“He brought to the office of prime minister and also to the position of leader of the Labor Party a great deal of authority, and in politics, the greatest commodity a leader can have is authority.”</p> <p>Another former Liberal leader Tony Abbott agreed with Morrison’s statement that Hawke was Labor’s best prime minister, but his following swipe has raised eyebrows.</p> <p>“[Hawke’s] key achievements — financial deregulation, tariffs cuts, and the beginnings of privatisation — went against the Labor grain, as Labor’s more recent policy direction shows,” said Abbott. “You might also say he had a Labor heart, but a Liberal head.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Statement on the death of The Hon Bob Hawke AC, GCL: <a href="https://t.co/M8fzbFlVTE">pic.twitter.com/M8fzbFlVTE</a></p> — Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyAbbottMHR/status/1128969163911811072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Abbott’s statement has been slammed as “tasteless” and “awful”. “A rare combination of thoughtless, tactless, heartless, clueless and tasteless,” <em>The Monthly</em>'s Richard Cooke posted on Twitter.</p>

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The life and legacy of Bob Hawke - the people's Prime Minister

<p>Politicians from all sides have paid tribute to the beloved leader.</p> <p>Bob Hawke is one of the most popular and well-known politicians and easily Australia’s most beloved prime minister.</p> <p>He sadly passed away on Thursday, May 16 in his Sydney home.</p> <p>All over Australia, people from all walks of life have paid tribute to Mr Hawke.</p> <p>Labor party leader Bill Shorten took to social media to honour the late former prime minister.</p> <p>“When I visited Bob last week, I tried to tell him what he meant to all of us. I couldn’t quite find the right words,” the post read.</p> <p>“But Bob knew. He knew what he meant to Australia; he knew what he had achieved for the country. He knew he was loved, right to the end.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">When I visited Bob last week, I tried to tell him what he meant to all of us. I couldn’t quite find the right words. <br /><br />But Bob knew. He knew what he meant to Australia, he knew what he had achieved for the country. He knew he was loved, right to the end. <a href="https://t.co/DVB3JL0V5S">pic.twitter.com/DVB3JL0V5S</a></p> — Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1129126276634038272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">The labour movement salutes our greatest son. <br /><br />Australians everywhere remember and honour a man who gave so much to the country and people he cared for so deeply. <br /><br />May he rest in peace. <a href="https://t.co/NzKwxW1e4X">pic.twitter.com/NzKwxW1e4X</a></p> — Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1128962007317659648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison also took to social media to pay tribute to Mr Hawke.</p> <p>The post read as follows: “Bob Hawke was a great Australian who led and served our country with passion, courage, and an intellectual horsepower that made our country stronger.”</p> <p>“He was true to his beliefs in the Labor tradition and defined the politics of his generation and beyond.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Bob Hawke was a great Australian who led and served our country with passion, courage, and an intellectual horsepower that made our country stronger. <br /><br />He was true to his beliefs in the Labor tradition and defined the politics of his generation and beyond.</p> — Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1128969361547354113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Greens party leader wrote kind words about the former PM, calling him a “Silver Bodgie” and “giant among PMs.”</p> <p>“Vale Bob Hawke. A giant among PMs. He had the courage to save the Franklin River when all looked lost. He got World Heritage listing of the Daintree Wet Tropics. He introduced Medicare. Legend. You’ll be missed Silver Bodgie,” he wrote.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Vale Bob Hawke. A giant among PMs. He had the courage to save the Franklin River when all looked lost. He got World Heritage listing of the Daintree Wet Tropics. He introduced Medicare. Legend. You’ll be missed Silver Bodgie.</p> — Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardDiNatale/status/1128979322499239936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard called Mr Hawke the “greatest peacetime leader Australia has ever had” in a heartfelt post about her former leader.</p> <p>“Bob Hawke liked Australians and Australians liked him,” she wrote in a lengthy tribute to Hawke.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Bob Hawke was the greatest peacetime leader Australia has ever had.<br /><br />As a teenager Bob inspired me, as a PM he guided me.<br /><br />I will miss him. I wish so very much that Bob had been able to see one more election day.<br /><br />My condolences to Blanche, his children and grandchildren. <a href="https://t.co/4wPHdIeBUZ">pic.twitter.com/4wPHdIeBUZ</a></p> — Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaGillard/status/1128985301769117697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>“As a teenager he inspired me, as a Prime Minister he guided me. I will miss him.”</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery above to see Bob Hawke through the years.</p>

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Bob Hawke and Blanche d'Alpuget felt a “click”: Inside Australia’s most favourite love story

<p>The affair between Bob Hawke and Blanche d’Alpuget is one of the biggest scandals in Australian political history, and in later years turned into one of the nation’s greatest and favourite love stories.</p> <p>Hazel Masterton met a young and dashing Bob Hawke when he was attending university in Perth and the couple became engaged in 1950.</p> <p>The two married in 1956 and welcomed four children – Sue, Stephen, Rosslyn and Robert Jr who sadly passed away as an infant.</p> <p>Throughout their marriage, Mrs Hawke stood by her husband’s side as he talked about his political aspirations and won the hearts of the Australian people – first as the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in the 1970’s, before joining parliament in the 1980’s.</p> <p>Hazel served as the First Lady during Bob’s years as Prime Minister from 1983 – 1991.</p> <p>However, it was in 1970 when Blanche d’Alpuget met Bob Hawke for the first time at a party in Jakarta, where the young writer was living with her husband, Antony Pratt.</p> <p>What she described to <em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/bob-hawke-blanche-affair/" target="_blank">Mamamia’s</a> </em><em>No Filter</em> podcast was not a spark between her and Mr Hawke as they talked long into the night about the city, but a “click.”</p> <p>“I hadn’t been long married, and I was very keen on my husband,” the 74-year-old told Mia Freedman in 2018.</p> <p>“I didn’t know who the hell [Hawke] was; I thought his name was Robin.”    </p> <p>The next time she met with Hawke was six years later and by then, her marriage had been “going down the drain. The connection he and his soon-to-be mistress had a click that “was different,” she said.</p> <p>The public was outraged when it had emerged the nations most beloved politician was leaving his wife of 38 years to marry d’Alpuget – a beautiful, blonde writer 14 years his junior, four years after he had left office.</p> <p>It had been discovered the two had been in a secret love affair for over two decades.</p> <p>“It was the ’70s, and I was a feminist, I was in the women’s movement. We didn’t believe in monogamy, we believed in liberty, equality and sorority and supporting other women, and affairs were par for the course. They were part of that life,” she said.</p> <p>“But one tried to be discreet and not hurt anybody.”</p> <p><strong><em>Scroll through the gallery above to see Mr Bob Hawke and his wife, Blanche d'Alpuget.</em></strong></p> <p>“I’ve been in love with Bob since 1976,” she told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/the-affair-that-scandalised-australia-bob-hawkes-20year-affair-with-blanche-dalpuget/news-story/cc4d90920d1fd2e1db2361ccd13d8d2b" target="_blank"><em>news.com.au.</em></a></p> <p>“I fell in love with his character. He was a man of absolutely good character, as far as I was concerned. He was clever and genuinely charismatic. He’s a man of enormous compassion, and I saw all of those things.</p> <p>The secret couple had gone through a string of break-ups and rekindling’s, but what had sealed their fate together, and to go public with their relationship was a single pause from Bob.</p> <p>“I was in a sea plane up in far-north Queensland, I was doing a story for <em>The New York Times</em> on the Great Barrier Reef, and the sea plane crashed into the sea,” d’Alpuget explained to Freedman.’</p> <p>“We had to swim out the window. There were six passengers and the pilot, and we were very lucky to be alive because we all grabbed on to the wings, as [aviation fuel] was pouring out of them and covering us."</p> <p>Nearby, a yachtsman had seen the accident and rescued the seven from the polluted water, pulling them into his dinghy before the plane completely sank.</p> <p>Once the group was safely onshore at Hamilton island, each passenger was given one phone call each.</p> <p> “The one phone call I made was to 'Go Between', the man who was [Bob's and my] secret contact. But he was a drama queen and he rang up Bob and said, 'Bob, Blanche has been in a plane crash,' and he paused. Bob said in that moment he felt himself die.</p> <p>“And then the man added, 'But she's alright'. But it was just that instant; he knew then that, had I died, his life wouldn't have been worth living.”</p> <p>The longest serving Labor prime minister announced his separation from his wife, Hazel in 1993 and publicly declared his love for Ms d'Alpuget.</p> <p>Eight months after he and Hazel’s divorce was finalised, he and his long-ago mistress married in Sydney.</p> <p>Mrs Hawke passed away in 2013 from dementia-related complications at age 83. Mr Hawke visited her before she died, and paid tribute to her life in a public statement.</p> <p>“I remember Hazel with deep affection and gratitude,” he said. “She was more than a wife and mother, being father as well during my frequent absences as I pursued an industrial then political career.”</p> <p>On Thursday May 16, 2019, Bob died in his Sydney home at age 89.</p> <p>“Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian – many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war era,” Blanche said in a statement.</p> <p>“Bob was dearly loved by his family, and so many friends and colleagues. We will miss him,” she added.</p> <p>“The golden bowl is broken.”</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery above to see Mr Bob Hawke and his wife, Blanche d'Alpuget.</p>

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“Like parts in an old car”: Bob Hawke’s moving letter to a young girl on dying

<p>A mother-of-three has shared a heart-warming letter she received from former prime minister Bob Hawke when she was just seven years old.</p> <p>Tracey Corbin-Matchett was a young girl trying to cope with the loss of her grandmother when she wrote to Mr Hawke, who died at the age of 89 at his Sydney home on Thursday.</p> <p>“As a child struggling with my Nan's death, I wrote to PM Bob Hawke, to help my young mind understand why we die,” she wrote on Thursday evening.</p> <p>“His letter back to me is my most treasured childhood memory!”</p> <p>Now Tracey works in communications and shared the stunning reply that has struck a chord all throughout Australia as the letter has gone viral.</p> <p>“The question you asked me about dying is very hard to answer and I think most of us have different ideas about why we do eventually all die,” Mr Hawke replied on July 23, 1985</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">As a child struggling with my Nan’s death, I wrote to PM Bob Hawke, to help my young mind understand why we die. His letter back to me is my most treasured childhood memory! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPBobHawke?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIPBobHawke</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/votesoutforBOB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#votesoutforBOB</a> <a href="https://t.co/kqpEIYZKmq">pic.twitter.com/kqpEIYZKmq</a></p> — TraceyCorbinMatchett (@traceycm74) <a href="https://twitter.com/traceycm74/status/1128977101372002305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>“Some people die because of unfortunate accidents, sometimes they become so ill that doctors are unable to help them to recover.</p> <p>“Perhaps when we grow very old, our bodies get worn out, or certain parts break down, like parts in an old car.</p> <p>“None of us can be sure of how long we will live. Because this is so I think you should try not to think too much about dying but think about all the nice things around you that make life so precious to us all.”</p> <p>On Twitter, Amanda Perram also shared a heart-warming letter she had received from Mr Hawke after she had written about her fears of a nuclear war as a child.</p> <p>She said his letter made her realise he “truly cared” and “had listened” to her concerns.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">I can't remember why on earth I was so worried at such a young age about nuclear war to write a letter to the PM about it, but I sure remember getting this letter back from Bob Hawke. I felt like he truly cared. I felt like he had really listened. He was a true leader. RIP 💔 <a href="https://t.co/gylCIEVWTM">pic.twitter.com/gylCIEVWTM</a></p> — 💧💰 Amanda Perram (@AmandaPerram) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaPerram/status/1128975238325198849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>“He was a true leader,” she wrote.</p> <p>The reply dated September 26, 1983 was written by a senior adviser on behalf of Hawke who agreed with her.</p> <p>“The Prime Minister was pleased to hear that you are taking an active interest in this very important matter,” the letter said.</p> <p>ABC journalist Connor Duffy received a letter that went on for two pages on behalf of the prime minister in 1991, who shared his concerns about the environment, poverty, the economy and recycling.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Vale Bob Hawke - woke up to the news via text from mum who sent me this letter I got back from his office after I’d sent him one asking about recycling, the environment, poverty and the economy! I remember being so chuffed they made time for a know it all 9 year old! <a href="https://t.co/VfTFMlxZHG">pic.twitter.com/VfTFMlxZHG</a></p> — Conor Duffy (@conorduffynews) <a href="https://twitter.com/conorduffynews/status/1129000318338064384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>“I remember being so chuffed they made time for a know it all 9-year-old!” Duffy said.</p> <p>The lengthy reply said the government was sending foreign aid to countries’ in need and had waved a sales tax on products made from recyclable materials.</p> <p>It also detailed the government had “tried very hard” to create enough jobs for everyone despite the recession.</p>

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