Article originally published JULY 27, 2005 –Reviewed and approved.
By Neil Jenman
Robert Norman Dale (who likes to be known as Rob Dale) is 47 years of age. He lives in a big house (which cost $4.4 million) on the Gold Coast (where else) and he drives a big flashy car.
He has a big ego and an even bigger mouth.
“I want to give you some vital information that will change your life,” he yells at his success seminars.
Well, here’s some vital information about Rob Dale that could save your life.
Robert Norman Dale is a slick spiv who should be avoided by anyone with assets. Those who trusted him (and remember, he’s a good talker) are now calling him Robber Dale.
Why?
Well, he’s taken millions of dollars from people and given them nothing in return. Nothing, except the usual drivel that spills from the mouths of spivs – promises, promises, promises.
Robber Dale is no nickel-and-dime spiv chasing the twenty-something wanna-be-rich-without-working brigade.
Nah, he goes for bigger catches, the fifty-something business owners or the well-heeled impending retirees. Those who enter what Dale calls his “inner sanctum” where they are persuaded to hand over millions of dollars.
“He seemed so believable and we trusted him,” said a woman who took $200,000 of her family’s superannuation money and then borrowed a further $800,000 from the National Australia Bank so that she and her husband could buy one million $1 shares in a Rob Dale project.
Another couple are so embarrassed they cannot face their family. “They have been ripped off to the tune of around 2 million dollars,” said their lawyer last week.
So, how does Robert Norman Dale, a three-time former bankrupt (the latest as recent as 2002) manage to persuade so many careful people to give him their money?
What follows is just one example of many of Dale’s brazen deceptions.
Meet Robert James Lee Hawke (who likes to be known as Bob Hawke), the 75-year-old former Australian Prime Minister. On the front of Rob Dale’s web site, Bob Hawke says, “Rob Dale is an energetic young man who has a deep understanding of human nature, who will leave a mark on his generation.”
That’s probably true. Dale does understand human nature and he sure leaves a mark, well, more like a deep hole.
But what does Bob say about Rob?
Back in January, Bob Hawke told investigative reporter Hedley Thomas that he had “absolutely no recollection of ever meeting Dale or giving him such an endorsement.”
And what did Rob do in response to Bob’s comment? He did what any shifty spiv would do, he went on quoting the same quote.
Robber Dale’s multiple robbery of so many decent Queenslanders is slowing down as more and more of his victims become less and less patient. Spivs rely on silence and the minute their victims start yelling the spivs start running.
A Supreme Court judge, Ros Atkinson, recently said that allegations of fraud and dishonesty about Dale needed to be investigated.
There was no mention of who should be doing the investigating?
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)? As one investor said, “I contacted ASIC some time ago and have not heard any more.”
Lawyers? It’ll may cost tens of thousands of dollars and months, maybe years, to fight such a case. By then, Dale and the money could be long gone. This is urgent.
The Police? Yes, of course, that’s the answer. Surely, there is something in the Crimes Act about obtaining money by deception.
Ordinary robbers use their guns to steal thousands. White-collar robbers use their mouths to steal millions. Ordinary robbers go to jail. White-collar robbers go home to their mansions.
As a former bank robber commented about Rob Dale, “At least when I robbed them, they always knew they were being robbed.”
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UPDATE: In 2011, six years after Neil Jenman wrote this article – and after multiple threats from Rob Dale – Dale was finally convicted of fraud and sentenced to 7.5 years in jail.
Sadly, Mr Hawke passed away in 2019.
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