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Brian Burke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian Thomas Burke (born in Perth, February 25, 1947) was Premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1983 until his resignation on 25 February 1988.
The son of federal Labor parliamentarian Tom Burke, Brian Burke started his career as a journalist, initially at the West Australian newspaper, and later in radio and television. He entered politics in 1973, winning the Legislative Assembly seat of Balga.
In 1981, he defeated Ronald Davies to become Leader of the Opposition. [1] Two years later, at just 36 years of age, he became the State's 23rd Premier and its third youngest Premier, ending nine years of Coalition government.
His premiership was characterised by close associations with businessmen such as Laurie Connell and Alan Bond and arranging joint government and business deals. As a result of the 1987 stock market crash, major corporate collapses including that of Connell's merchant bank Rothwells unwound some of those deals which in turn caused major losses to the State. The corporate deals and the attempted government sponsored rescue of Rothwells became known later as WA Inc.
Burke resigned as Premier before the full extent of the deals and losses were known and went on to become Australia's ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See before being forced to resign as a result of allegations of improper conduct during his time as Premier.
As a result of the allegations, the WA Inc royal commission was established in 1990, and led to Burke being charged with various offences for which he was sentenced to two years imprisonment. He served seven months in jail in 1994 for travel expense rorts before being released on parole. In March 1997 he was sentenced to three years jail for stealing $122,585 in campaign donations. He served six months before the convictions were quashed on appeal. He was stripped of his honour as a Companion of the Order of Australia.[2]
Burke has since been active as a consultant and lobbyist for Perth business identities. His continued involvement in State Labor branch politics has been a subject of controversy since Labor returned to power in 2001. Former Premier Geoff Gallop banned Cabinet ministers from contact with Burke, but this was lifted by his successor Alan Carpenter when he took office in January 2006. Burke is an old family friend of former federal Labor party leader Kim Beazley, who was forced to distance himself from the former Premier.
In November 2005, Burke's daughter Sarah Burke ran for the presidency of the State Labor party. She expressed interest in standing as the party's candidate for the Federal Division of Cowan when Labor MP Graham Edwards announced his intention to retire in January 2006.
On 9 November 2006, Burke was forced to quit the Labor party in disgrace following calls from the current Premier of Western Australia Alan Carpenter, in part due to evidence provided to the Corruption and Crime Commission. [3]
MLA Norm Marlborough, the Minister for Small Business and the South West, was forced to resign on February 20th, 2007 after the Corruption and Crime Commission revealed he'd kept a "secret mobile phone" to stay in touch with Mr Burke [4] [5]
On Monday 9th December 2006, Alan Carpenter, WA Premier asked Tony McRae to resign from the State Cabinet. [6]
On Monday 26th February MLA John Bowler was sacked from the State Government Ministry after revelations of his dealings with Brian Burke and Julian Grill surfaced at hearings being held by the Corruption and Crime Commission in Perth..[7][8]
On March 1st 2007, Kevin Douglas, Busselton Shire President was forced to resign because he could no longer work on a council under the influence of lobbyist Brian Burke [9]
During 2005 Burke had a dinner with current federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd. He also attended a meeting with the then federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell. The former event led to a scathing attack on Rudd's character by the prime minister, causing the latter event to be exposed by the media. The latter event forced the resignation of Senator Campbell from the Cabinet.
- Constitutional Centre biographical entry
- Western Australian Government Commissions of Inquiry
- ABC News: Burke a 'highly successful premier'
- ^ *History of the ALP (WA Branch). Retrieved on December 20, 2006.
- ^ Ramsey, Alan. "A role in the fall of a Labor mate conveniently omitted from the eulogies", Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-07-20. Retrieved on November 30, 2005.
- ^ "Former WA premier to quit ALP", The Australian, 2006-11-09. Retrieved on December 20, 2006.
- ^ Burke attacks the Corruption Commission
- ^ WA corruption commission investigates ex-premier Burke
- ^ WA minister caught in corruption scandal
- ^ WA Minister sacked over corruption inquiry evidence
- ^ Fourth WA minister falls to commission inquiry
- ^ Former Busselton Shire President explains resignation
| Preceded by Ray O'Connor |
Premier of Western Australia 1983-1988 |
Succeeded by Peter Dowding |
| Premiers of Western Australia |  |
|---|---|
| Forrest | Throssell | Leake | Morgans | James | Daglish | Rason | Moore | Wilson | Scaddan | Lefroy | Colebatch | Mitchell | Collier | Willcock | Wise | McLarty | Hawke | Brand | Tonkin | C. Court | O'Connor | Burke | Dowding | Lawrence | R. Court | Gallop | Carpenter | |