This news is a couple of days old now.
Yes, the Labor party looks to have sacrificed him/kept him on ice to get themselves a bump in the Federal election voting.
Hawke is a very nostalgic figure for many Aussies - Rhodes scholar (like Buttplug), held a beer drinking record, was Prime Minister in 1983 when Australia first won the America's Cup.
Hawke was a communist and Deep State cabal stooge all the way and his final act was to die (or be killed) at just the right time for his beloved Labor party.
Sick bastards one and all.