By Nick Ralston
The daughter of Bob and Hazel Hawke says Blanche d'Alpuget has crossed a line with comments and insinuations about her mother in a new biography of the former prime minister .
Sue Pieters-Hawke said she was fond of her stepmother and the happiness she now shared with her father.
Bob and Hazel Hawke after his 1983 victory (left); and Hawke and Blanche D’Alpuget ... ‘rewriting history’.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
But she said D'Alpuget's book, Hawke: The Prime Minister, and a telemovie to screen tomorrow have dragged the spotlight into personal family matters.
Ms Pieters-Hawke said she had previously declined to comment on her family as she believed they deserved privacy.
However, she said she was now persuaded that it was time to say something.
''I have observed what I believe are fair and respectful boundaries about commenting publicly on the personalities and complex relationships of my family life or anyone else's,'' she said, writing for The Age.
''I am loyal to both my parents. But a line has been crossed, a legacy hijacked, and a lot of people are seriously unimpressed.''
Ms Pieters-Hawke said she took particular offence to comments made about her mother.
In the book, D'Alpuget writes that Bob and Hazel's marriage ''had been unstable for decades, but The Lodge had brought them happiness. It had been the fulfilment of a long-shared dream, for the achievement of which both had been willing to make sacrifices.''
D'Alpuget says once that dream had been achieved the relationship began to deteriorate.
Ms Pieters-Hawke said that account was ''rewriting of history'' on the basis of a series of inaccurate premises. ''Forbearance extends only so far before it becomes a complicit silence, and I think it's time that, as someone who has known her well for 53 years and spoken previously on her behalf, I set a few things straight,'' Ms Pieters-Hawke said.
''My mother is entitled, on the basis of the life she has lived and the way she has lived it, to be recognised as a person of deep conviction and principled choices. She was consistently motivated by far more noble concerns than money, where she lived, or the 'reputation du jour' of her ex-husband.''
''While public comment about my mother can be a bit overblown in its adulation, there is really no argument from people who know her well about her essential attributes and motivations.''
Hazel Hawke has withdrawn from public life and is suffering from advanced dementia.
Ms Pieters-Hawke said her mother remains mostly cheerful and positive, still plays the piano a little but no longer recognises her family.
''What you saw about Mum was what you got. This was absolutely the case among friends and family, and among her many friends over the years,'' she said.
''And it became true about who she was as she was exposed on the wider stage of Australian public life. And what did I see?
''Of course, she's my mother, and I love her to bits. Yes, I'm biased.
''But I can honestly say that who I know her to be is not in the least bit at odds with most of the public image of her. She is a loving human being. She has always had a deep instinct for connection with people, a completely warm and natural way of respecting the worth and dignity of anyone she encounters.
''Her support of my father throughout his career was not that of a loyal doormat ''standing by her man''- she shared the values and aspirations for living in the country of the ''fair go'' that so inspired and drove dad,'' Ms Pieters-Hawke said.
''She respected people for the fact of contribution, irrespective of scale or whether she agreed with their views. And she believed in the authentic motivation of my father's ambition to lead in pursuit of that vision.
''That never wavered, despite the periodically turbulent nature of their marriage. She pretty much only got really snitchy when she felt strongly that someone's actions were causing harm to others.''
Her mother, Ms Pieters-Hawke said, never aspired to live in The Lodge and concepts of status, money and position meant nothing to her.
''To suggest that mum stayed with Dad because he was a 'good material provider', or that she dreamed of being in The Lodge, is about as diametrically opposed to the truth as you can get, as those of us who know her motives and aspirations for remaining with him well understand,'' she said.
''I'm not going to go into providing an alternative detailed account of the private lives and decisions and dynamics of my family over the past 50 years.
''That others of you see fit to do so is your call.
''Of course, there is no such thing as an objective account - history is always an interpretation. But there are such things as facts, relevance, and well substantiated assertions, and then there is the rest of it …''
As well as D'Alpuget's portrayal of her mother, Ms Pieters-Hawke has also taken exception to her sister's battle with heroin addiction being aired publicly again.
''The notion of a right to privacy extends, I believe, to respecting a person's preference to not bang on about their past, or the parts of it that are of no legitimate concern to others,'' she said.
''My sister has asked all her family to refrain from talking about or facilitating further public discussion of the complex difficulties she fought her way out of many years ago.
''That request has not been fully respected, to her distress and my profound distaste.''
Ms Pieters-Hawke has also asked that the portrayal of her father in a Network Ten telemovie tomorrow not be taken seriously.
''If you choose to watch the telemovie, then maybe … you will incidentally glimpse something of what mattered about my father's life as PM, the honest dedication and innovative approach with which he set about leading four governments that are often agreed to have been a high point in Australian political and social history …
''Those years and the political dynamics of them are a legitimate matter of public interest and debate to all of us who care about the world we live in … Dad's role in public life, and public affection and respect for him because of it, are the key memories that endure in people's minds, I hope.
''Personally, I think that glib observations of character and events, or the ill-informed and tawdry dwelling on deeply personal dimensions of a family's life, demean public conversation, political commentary, and the people who indulge in them.
''Mostly, I have lost interest or learned to ignore them. Gratuitously 'pouring hot water on old dried s---', as a friend of mine pithily observed, while it may politely be called 'drama', is a cheap substitute for viewing of substantive worth.
''If I'm in front of the telly, I plan on watching the final episode of Little Dorrit on the good ol' ABC.
''That, at least, is nothing but honest fiction.''