Brian Thomas Burke (born 25 February 1947) is an Australian former politician who was the 23rd premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1983 to his resignation on 25 February 1988. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1973 to 1988, representing the electoral districts of Balga and Balcatta, and was the leader of the Western Australian Labor Party from 1981 to 1988.
Burke studied law at the University of Western Australia for one year before dropping out. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked as a journalist for The West Australian newspaper, 6PM radio station, and Seven News Perth. He was elected to Parliament at the 1973 Balcatta state by-election, becoming one of the most popular local members over the following years. In 1981, he became the leader of the Labor Party in a leadership spill. He led the Labor Party to victory in the 1983 Western Australian state election, defeating the Liberal–National government of Ray O'Connor.
Burke's achievements as Premier include the reopening of the Fremantle railway line, abolishing capital punishment, banning nuclear power, and implementing electoral reform. He was also at the centre of the WA Inc scandal, in which his cosy relationships with entrepreneurs led the state to losing hundreds of millions of dollars. This included providing a $150 million guarantee to the Rothwells bank following the October 1987 stock market crash. A year later, Rothwells went into liquidation. Burke resigned as Premier and as a member of Parliament exactly five years after taking office, still holding high popularity. He was succeeded by Peter Dowding, who went on to win the 1989 state election. In June 1988, he was appointed a Companion to the Order of Australia. Burke then became the Australian Ambassador to Ireland and the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.
Burke resigned as an ambassador in 1991, having to face the WA Inc royal commission. The royal commission discovered that he had falsely claimed $17,000 from a parliamentary travel account between 1984 and 1986. In July 1994, he was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released on parole after seven months. In 1995, he was stripped of his Order of Australia honour. In 1997, he was found guilty of stealing $122,585 in campaign donations to the Labor Party, for which he was sentenced to three years jail, but served six months before the conviction was quashed on appeal. In the 2000s, Burke worked as a lobbyist in partnership with his former minister Julian Grill. A Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation revealed links with three state government ministers and several Labor Party staffers, who were forced to resign when this was revealed. In 2010, Burke was found guilty of giving a false testimony to the CCC, and fined $25,000.
Early life and career Burke was born on 25 February 1947 at St John of God Hospital, Subiaco, in the western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. His parents were Tom Burke, an Australian Labor Party politician in the House of Representatives from 1943 to 1955, and Madeline Muirson Orr. Tom Burke had Irish ancestry, and was deeply Catholic. Madeline Orr was of Irish and Scottish ancestry. Brian Burke was the third child out of five: the first child was Terence Joseph "Terry" Burke, who also grew up to be a politician. He also had an older sister, a younger brother, and a younger sister. In his early years, Brian was quite independent as his parents focused on his younger brother Frank, who had down syndrome, and his father was often in Canberra. He grew up in the middle-class Perth suburb of Wembley, living in a California bungalow set on a quarter acre block. From 1952 to 1954, he was educated at Brigidine Primary School in Wembley, a Catholic school run by Irish nuns, and from 1955 to 1964, he was educated at St Joseph's Marist Brothers College in Subiaco.
Burke met his future wife Suzanne May Nevill at a school dance class when they were both 16. Several months later, they started going out, and on 11 September 1965, they married each other at St Francis Xavier's Church in East Perth. That year, he was studying law at the University of Western Australia (UWA), but he switched to part-time study when he got a job in September 1965 as a cadet proof-reader at West Australian Newspapers Ltd. with help from his father. For the following two years, he studied economics part-time at UWA, but he dropped out completely after that. In 1967, he became a cadet journalist for The West Australian, in 1969, he worked as a journalist for the 6PM radio station, and from 1970 to 1973, he worked for Seven News Perth. Whilst at The West Australian, Burke was assigned to collect horse race results at Gloucester Park. Seeing that there was no form guide being sold, he decided to start his own, forming the Punters' Guide with a group of university Labor branch members, including John Dawkins and Kim Beazley. Some of the profits raised went to the Labor Party. At the peak of its popularity, the Punters' Guide sold 16,000 copies. Meanwhile, Burke and his wife lived "on the bones of their arses" for several years, moving into a State Housing Commission home in 1970 before eventually being able to put a deposit on a home in Balga, a working-class suburb north of Perth. By the age of 24, Burke had three children.
Political beginnings Burke's brother Terry was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1968, representing the electoral district of Perth. In 1973, on the same day that Herb Graham, the deputy premier and member for Balcatta, announced his retirement from politics, Burke made his decision to seek Labor preselection for Balcatta. He faced an uphill battle, with state secretary Joe Chamberlain wanting Patricia Giles preselected. With the help of Terry and a particularly good performance by Burke at a preselection meeting, he became Labor's candidate for Balcatta. As the Labor Party only had a one-seat majority, the ensuing by-election would determine whether it would remain in office. Having undertaken an opinion poll of the seat, Burke realised he was most likely not going to win, so he asked acting state secretary Kim Beazley for money to fund his campaign. Beazley gave Burke's campaign $6,000, which was all the money in the party's electoral account, angering Chamberlain as the money was meant for the upcoming full state election. At the ensuing by-election on 28 July 1973, Burke defeated the Liberal Party candidate by 30 votes as measured on a two-party-preferred basis. He was sworn into Parliament on 5 August 1973.
+ Election results for Burke and the Labor Party Election Seat Primary votefor Burke Statewide Laborprimary vote 1973 Balcatta 48.5% 1974 Balga 62.0% 48.10% 1977 Balcatta 61.3% 44.22% 1980 Balcatta 68.7% 45.95% 1983 Balga 79.0% 53.16% 1986 Balga 77.8% 53.00%
At the 1974 state election on 30 March, he was elected to the newly created seat of Balga after Balcatta was abolished. At that election, the Labor Party led by John Tonkin lost their majority, and Charles Court from the Liberal Party became premier. Burke was one of the few Labor Party politicians to increase their vote at that election. Over the following five to six years, Burke had a low profile within the party, however he built up support in his electorate, with him eventually becoming one of the most popular local members ever. He became known as the "Godfather of Balga", although not in a pejorative way.
Burke would often come up with ideas for raising money for the Labor Party, including that the party start a printing press and open a Chinese restaurant. Other members of his branch would talk the ideas down. Many other people in the party would criticise Burke due to his unprofessional nature and lack of concern for policy development. He once spoke at a press conference whilst wearing a caftan. Another time, Burke suggested to Tonkin "...any business person looking for a government contract—you don’t get a contract unless you kick into (contribute to) the party." He was seen as a larrikin.
Instead of being part of any Labor Party factions, Burke chose to build alliances with others in the party from either faction. He was skilled at networking and attracting people to be loyal to him. In 1977, he was convicted of drink driving, dangerous driving, and failing to stop after an accident. He was fined $390 and had his driver's licence suspended for six months. His political career remained undamaged, and he decided to lose weight and give up alcohol.
Burke joined the shadow ministry in April 1977, being appointed by Labor leader Colin Jamieson as the shadow minister for works, water supplies, and housing. In March 1978, new Labor leader Ron Davies appointed Burke as the shadow minister for housing, and the chief secretary. From 7 March 1980, Burke was the shadow minister for water resources, housing, and consumer affairs.
In the late 1970s, Burke made several speeches opposing the Vietnamese boat people. He told the Daily News on 29 May 1978 that "these Vietnamese coming here in boats were not genuine refugees". On 23 August 1978, he said to Parliament "how many members of this House can say that all the refugees coming here are genuine? Can a refugee be defined as being genuine if they have the ability to commandeer a boat and come to this country?" In 1980, Burke began to prominently campaign against the death penalty. He made headlines by calling for public executions in places such as Forrest Place with the cabinet members responsible for the execution to be there.
Path to premier Over the 1970s, the Labor Party failed to come close to defeating the Liberal/National Country Coalition led by Charles Court. The Coalition had an advantage due to malapportionment favouring rural areas. After the 1977 election, Burke contested the Labor Party's deputy leadership, but was beaten by Mal Bryce by one vote. Following the 1980 election, Burke, Arthur Tonkin and Bryce began planning to remove Davies as party leader. With Tonkin never in serious leadership contention, Burke had to convince Bryce that he was the best man to lead the party. Bryce eventually came around for Burke, reasoning that Burke had better media and fundraising skills, necessary as the party was short on funds. Bryce told his followers to support Burke, who mostly went through with that. There was some trepidation however, with a few people seeing him as a risk. On 18 September 1981, Burke defeated Davies in a Labor Party leadership spill 20 votes to 11, and so he became the leader of the opposition. Bryce was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party and so he became the deputy leader of the opposition. He then appointed the Burke shadow ministry. Burke himself was appointed shadow treasurer and the shadow minister for immigration, ethnic affairs, economic affairs, federal affairs and aboriginal affairs. At 34 years old, Burke was the fourth-youngest ever opposition leader at the time. Upon becoming leader, Burke said to Bryce, "are we happy and agreed—I’m responsible for image and marketing; you’re responsible for policy and substance".