Rosslyn Dillon (pictured) alleged she was raped three times in the 1980s by Bill Landeryou, a close friend of Hawke’s who died in February
The daughter of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke claimed she was raped by a Labour MP, but her father begged her to stay silent for the sake of his own political career.
Rosslyn Dillon alleged she was raped three times in the 1980s by Bill Landeryou, a close friend of Hawke’s who died in February.
But as she turned to her father for comfort, she said she was met with a ‘shocking and hurtful’ response as he pleaded with her to stay quiet.
He feared it could derail his political career when he was on the cusp of becoming Labor leader.
The explosive allegations came as Ms Dillon lodged a $4 million legal claim on her father’s estate following his death in May.
In July, the late PM’s youngest daughter Rosslyn Dillon, a reformed heroin addict, launched legal proceedings against her father’s estate (she is pictured with her late father Bob Hawke in June 2013 arriving at the Sydney Opera House)
Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister (pictured in 2012) left $750,000 each to his three children Sue Pieters-Hawke, Stephen Hawke, Rosslyn Dillon and his stepson Louis Pratt
In a detailed affidavit seen by The New Daily, the former Prime Minister’s daughter explained that she told her father at their Melbourne family home not long after the alleged rape.
‘You can’t go to the police,’ she claims her father said.
Bill Landeryou (pictured) was a close friend of Hawke’s. He died in February this year
‘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.’
Ms Dillon admitted she was ‘shocked and hurt that (my father) asked this of me’.
As a result of pressure from her father, once one of Australia’s most beloved politicians, she never went to the police.
Now a mother-of-two, she explained she was still ‘haunted’ by the assaults as she was never able to get closure because of her father’s demands.
‘I thought to myself, I could not make any bigger sacrifice to the (my father’s) political career if I had tried,’ the affidavit said.
‘He asked me to let the matter go for him and I did so for him.’
Bob Hawke (centre) former Prime Minister of Australia with family Rosalyn, Hazel, Bob, Sophie, Sue and Ian during Labor Campaign in 1987 Sydney, Australia
Bob Hawke Prime Minister of Australia (1983 – 1991) marries Blanche D’Alpuget in 1995 in Sydney, Australia
‘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.’
At the time, Mr Hawke was close friends with Landeryou, the late Victorian Labor MLC.
He was one of Mr Hawke’s chief supporters in his bid to become prime minister, and had his own state funeral held in March.
In her legal bid for a larger chunk of her late father’s multi-million dollar estate, she claimed it doesn’t provide adequate family provision for her.
She said this is because she suffers from depression, anxiety and PTSD and is dependent on welfare payments.
Another of Mr Hawke’s daughters, Sue Pieters-Hawke, told the newspaper that the family knew of the allegations and that they had distressed their father.
She insisted the family were supportive at the time but that it ‘didn’t involve using the legal system’.
Ms Dillon went on to say that soon after the rapes, she fell pregnant and nearly had an abortion, having feared the child was Landeryou’s.
The couple’s three-bedroom mansion (pictured) at Northbridge, overlooking Middle Harbour on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, sold for $9.2million in March
The off-market sale reaped far less than the $15million figure previously reported in the media, including Daily Mail Australia (pictured is a view of Middle Harbour similar to that from the mansion)
Then there was a $3.6million apartment (building pictured) with views of Sydney Harbour and Hyde Park which is likely to have appreciated in value since they bought it in November 2015
But she soon discovered the late MP was unable to have children, so kept the baby – her now grown son David – after learning it was her husband Matt’s child.
She was suffering with heroin addiction at the time of the alleged rapes, and was given a steady job in Landeryou’s office after her father intervened.
It was then the sexual touching began, she claimed.
‘During the time I was employed there I was often alone in Landeryou’s office. At some time he started to touch me in a sexual way,’ she stated.
‘Landeryou sexually assaulted me three times – at the Hilton Hotel, at Parliament House and at his home in Sunshine, where he sneaked into the spare room where I was sleeping.’
Ms Dillon submitted the allegations as part of her claim for a larger chunk of her late father’s estate.
The 59-year old former drug addict was left $750,000 from the estate of Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister, following his death in May aged 89.
She claimed that this does not provide adequate provision for her.
Her eldest sister Sue, 62, and brother Stephen, 60, are also being left the same amount, as is Mr Hawke’s stepson Louis Pratt.
The late former PM’s widow and biographer Blanche d’Alpuget was left with everything else, including his luxury $9.2million mansion and $3.6million apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour.
Mr Hawke’s caused controversy when he married his biographer Ms d’Alpuget, with whom he had conducted a long-running affair before leaving his wife in 1995.
His divorce from his wife of 38 years, Hazel Masterson, left him estranged from his children for years.