Burkie’s baggage: We can too easily forget the history that comes with former WA premier Brian Burke

There was some rather forgetful commentary prompted by Liberal MP Steve Thomas’ recent brief ousting from shadow cabinet for daring to talk to Brian Burke. Probably the best, or arguably the worst, was aired on ABC news when retired political reporter Peter Kennedy pondered about the latest kerfuffle surrounding the former WA premier. “It’s 36 years since he retired from politics,” Kennedy said of Mr Burke. “Steve Thomas asked him for help and he apparently he did help successful. “There is no illegality involved . . . what’s wrong with that?” What’s wrong with that? For a start, it shows the danger of forgetting. Forgetting what the WA Inc royal commission and a series of Corruption and Crime Commission inquiries revealed about Mr Burke’s then operational methods. Forgetting the dangers of discussing current affairs in seeming ignorance of what those inquiries uncovered and the limitations of their published reports. Their reports should not be blurred by subsequent events in the criminal justice system, which rightly requires every element of a charge to be proved to near-certainty. Politics, propriety and process is not world of certainty — where someone is either completely trustworthy or a downright crook. There are myriad shades of grey. True it is that there is no evidence that Mr Burke has done anything wrong in his recent activities. And no suggestion to the contrary is made here. But for people who have trouble remembering what happened in the past and for those who were never there, here is a potted history of WA Inc and Brian Burke. For those who would wish to read the royal commission report themselves, it can be found here. COMETH THE HOUR By the early 1980s, Australia was in serious need of economic and social reform after being run by Liberal and Country Party governments for more than three decades. The Australian Labor Party had been a mess, hurt by factional wars fuelled in part by religious bigotry and public arguments about the influence of socialist ideologues and apologists for the despotic Soviet Union. There was well-founded hope that Australia would belatedly enter the final quarter of the 20th century when the charismatic former TV reporter Brian Thomas Burke led the ALP to victory in the WA State election on February 19, 1983. He was sworn in on February 25 — his 36th birthday. This hope was strengthened a fortnight later when the ALP won the Federal election with a strong reform economic reform agenda and a remarkably talented team, led by former ACTU leader and WA Rhodes Scholar Bob Hawke. Yet within this hope, the ghosts of conferences past lurked. Mr Burke had witnessed ALP troubles up close through the suffering of his father Tom, a member of the party’s right, elected as the Federal member for Perth in 1943. The ALP was ripped apart at its Hobart conference in March 1955 when many of Tom’s factional allies and fellow Catholics jumped ship to the new, anti-communist Democratic Labor Party. Tom stayed loyal to Labor but lost his seat in the Federal election opportunistically called by prime minister Bob Menzies in November 1955. Then, after a protracted battle with party and union powerbroker Joe Chamberlain, Tom was expelled from the ALP in 1957. He was not allowed back into the fold for seven years and never made it back to Parliament In his 1983 victory speech, Mr Burke referred to his late father as “the finest, most honest man I have ever known”. And Tom was at the front of Mr Burke’s mind on December 22, 1987, when he confirmed he was quitting politics to become Australia’s ambassador to Ireland and the Vatican. “My achievements are to his credit and I hope I have brought some of his forbearance, humility and unselfishness to Parliament,” he said. The more charitable readings of Mr Burke’s opening and closing lines included that having witnessed his father’s agony, the bright son was dedicated to sorting out Labor’s troubles behind closed doors. Mr Burke set about doing his bit by engaging with Perth’s entrepreneurs to drive investment and development in WA — something he appeared to have executed with success in his first three years in power. And his government’s rescue of Laurie Connell’s merchant bank Rothwells after the October 1987 share market crash led to increased scrutiny by journalists of his government’s dealings with the likes of Mr Connell, Alan Bond and Yosse Goldberg, who had skipped the country. Mr Burke ended up leaving a potential $300 million mess for new premier Peter Dowding in February 1998. It would take three years of digging by some business-savvy journalists — including the likes of John McGlue and Martin Saxon — and political pressure for Mr Dowding’s successor Carmen Lawrence to set up the long-awaited inquiry. The WA Inc royal commission went right back to the beginning of the sad affair. COMETH THE MATE The Rothwells boss might have eventually earned the nickname “Last Resort Laurie”, but Laurie Connell seemed to have been one of Mr Burke’s first choices as a business confidant in early 1983. Despite being a Liberal Party supporter, Mr Connell had donated $25,000 to the ALP campaign after being called by Mr Burke as he rattled the tin just before the election. The new premier first met Mr Connell after winning office in a meeting organised by radio presenter and fellow horse racing enthusiast Bob Maumill. The royal commision said it soon became apparent during the chat that “Mr Burke wanted to become known to and involved with people in the local business community”. “He outlined his philosophy as to how he saw business as having a role with government, and government having to react to this,” the royal commission report said of Mr Burke. “It is true to say he sought Mr Connell out to obtain his advice about different matters and to refer ideas and proposals to him. He valued his advice, although he did not always take it.” This advice would come at a cost. CUP RUNNETH OVER Just as Alan Bond was preparing for his America’s Cup challenge in Rhode Island, Mr Connell had Burke family friend Jack Walsh sounded out the premier for help in wintry Perth. Bond Corp offshoot Endeavour Mining was in danger of sinking, having paid way too much for Arygle Diamond venture minority partner Northern Mining. Northern Mining held a 5 per cent stake in the CRA-controlled Ashton joint venture, which had won a mandate from former premier Sir Charles Court to develop a diamond mine near Kununurra in return for building a town. Mr Connell was officially ask by the Bond Corporation to help the cash-stricken Endeavour borrow $20m from State-owned R&I Bank. While Mr Burke denied, during the royal commission, being asked by Mr Connell or Mr Bond’s lieutenant Peter Beckwith to help with loan, the commission said it seemed Mr Burke had approached R&I chairman David Fischer on behalf of BankWest. “In this respect Mr Burke’s memory is faulty,” the commission said. Mr Connell earned a $500,000 fee organising the loan, but this was only a down-payment. The State Government was also pondering buying Northern Mining for $42m. That proposal, complete with a report from Mr Connell’s firm LR Connell & Associates, was presented to Cabinet soon before a Cabinet meeting on September 26, 1983. Mr Connell and Mr Walsh were there to watch Cabinet approve the $42m purchase. Early the next morning, Mr Bond’s Australia II team won the America’s Cup. Mr Connell was also a winner, paid $5m by Bond Corp for his diamond endeavours. Northern Mining’s name was changed to WA Government Holdings and it later became the vehicle for the Kwinana petrochemical deal. Royal commission conclusions: BURKE CHECKS BOUNCE The America’s Cup victory led to Bond’s lieutenants fight to overcome Scarborough resident opposition to the planned high-rise hotel. In early 1984, Mr Beckwith again called in Mr Connell and Mr Walsh — this time to woo opposing Stirling City council factions aligned to Labor and Liberal. They hired former premier Ray O’Connor to use his influence on Stirling Liberals featuring George Cash — the man earmarked to take over the seat of Mt Lawley. By 1987, Mr Cash was an effective Liberal fighter in a rough and tumble Parliament where both sides were digging for dirt on the rival. Mr Burke and his MP brother Terry Burke had Mr O’Connor as a source about their Liberal rivals. And he was talking some serious dirt about Mr Cash. Mr Walsh reported to Mr Connell in early April 1984 that “a cost of $25,000 was involved” in Mr O’Connor convincing Stirling council’s Liberal majority to change its mind. Investigators suspected this claim might be somehow linked to a $25,000 cheque drawn by Bond Corp later in the month with the words: “Cash – Mt Lawley Campaign Fund”. The wording of that cheque created plenty of intrigue, not only because Mr O’Connor was about to step down as the member for Mt Lawley and ambitious Stirling councillor George Cash was to successfully stand in the looming by-election. That $25,000 cheque landed in Mr O’Connor’s R&I Bank account and never made its way to any campaign fund — instead just being used to help the former premier deal with what the royal commission later described as “liquidity problems”. Mr O’Connor went on to develop an America’s Cup festival of sport with the help of the Quit Smoking Campaign but needed a $700,000 taxpayer-funded rescue in 1986. Given he felt he owed Mr Burke and his MP brother Terry Burke “a favour”, became a provider of information about the Liberal opposition. In a parliamentary battleground where both sides were digging for dirt on rivals, the premier and Terry had Mr O’Connor as a source by 1987 and he appeared to have some gold. After Mr Burke had spoken to his predecessor, a meeting was organised in Terry Burke’s office where recording equipment provided by private investigator Robert Smith was set up. Mr O’Connor was secretly recorded claiming Mr Cash had asked for $30,000 while the Observation City decision was before Stirling. The former Liberal premier claimed he handed over the money in $50 notes. Mr Burke received a copy of the recording’s transport and he told Cabinet, but no further action was taken. The royal commission report said it was Mr Burke’s clear duty as the premier to bring “material pointing to the commission of a serious crime” to the commissioner of police, no matter how discreditable the circumstances of its creation. “The Premier gave no adequate explanation for the fact that the conversation was recorded,” the report said. “That fact in itself does not sit well with Mr Burke’s explanation that his lack of action concerning the tape was because he did not believe it.” Royal commission conclusions: YOSSE COUGHS UP Mr Connell was to feature again in the next dealings to generate negative conclusions about Mr Burke — the sale of Fremantle Gas & Coke. A takeover bid by one of Robert Holmes a Court’s companies triggered events in 1985 that delivered control to Yosse Goldberg’s company Western Continental. The deal was a model of 1980s complexity and it is more interesting for the allegations about what happened amid the corporate horseplay. On July 25, 1985, LR Connell & Associates paid $200,000 by cheque to an advertising account allegedly linked to Mr Burke and made out a $100,000 cheque payable to cash. Western Continental sent Mr Connell $300,000 the next day. Having left Australia, Mr Goldberg did not give evidence to the royal commission. But in an unsigned statement he told investigators Mr Connell had taken him to see Mr Burke after making the $300,000 donation. Mr Goldberg’s lieutenant Leon Musca gave the royal commission a more colourful version of events. He recalled Mr Goldberg telling him Mr Burke had summoned him to a meeting and promptly demanded the donation. “Leon, it was like dealing with the Mafia,” Mr Musca quoted Mr Goldberg as saying. A Western Continental director also recalled Mr Goldberg making the “dealing with mafia observation”. Mr Burke denied demanding the donation. Royal commission conclusions: THE WORM TURNS The investigation into the Swan Building Society and Teachers’ Credit Society rescues in the lead-up to the October 1987 share market crash helped uncover a variety of shortcomings in the State-based regulatory system. A report into Teachers’ Credit in 1986 had raised concerns about big deposits with Rothwells and big loans to gym magnate Laurie Potter and property developers Peter Tilli and Rob Martin. State credit unions administrator John Metaxas provided information to Mr Burke about a $150,000 withdrawal from Teachers’ Credit in March 1987 by Liberal Party WA president Keith Simpson. That information was used by Mr Burke and ALP frontbencher Bob Pearce to attack Mr Simpson, Opposition leader Barry MacKinnon and Liberal MLA Ross Lightfoot, who had been probing Teachers’ Credit affairs early in 1987. Royal commission conclusions: JUST HOW DEVIOUS? The royal commission dedicated more than a quarter of its report on State Government dealings linked to Rothwells in the year after the October 1987 share market crash. They started with the taxpayer-backed move to stop a run on Laurie Connell’s merchant bank, backing Alan Bond’s buy-out of Robert Holmes a Court’s crippled business empire and the $75m Kwinana petrochemical plant deal with Mr Connell. After various State agencies had entered about $35m of deals in in the immediate aftermath of the 1987 crash, the likes of Mr Bond, Mr Beckwith, Mr Burke’s adviser Tony Lloyd and senior minister David Parker met to discuss a $300m-plus rescue. This included a $150m State guarantee for new loans to Rothwells. Mr Burke decided to commit the State Government to the rescue. The commission said Mr Burke was not only motivated by concerns the government could be called on for help from depositors — notably the Catholic Archdiocese and local government authorities if Rothwells failed — he also wanted to assist Mr Connell. And he hoped to preserve the ALP’s standing in the eyes of the business community, from which the party had secured so much financial support and from which he had derived personal benefit. “We have found Mr Burke’s conduct to be improper,” the commission said. It was also critical of the State’s dealings with Rothwells after Mr Dowding took over as premier in February 1988. Mr Dowding shared with Labor minister David Parker’ a “profound misconception” that “government worldwide is built on the basis of concealment”, the commission said. Other royal commission conclusions: ‘REPREHENSIBLE CONDUCT’ The royal commission report laid out donations from various powerful business figures month-by-month, from July 1982 to May 1989. Clumps of donations were broken up by summaries of government business dealings that the commission report describes as “circumstances”. Dallas Dempster donated more than $580,000 in 1984 and 1985, after he had won the mandate to build the new casino at Burswood and while he was in the race for a potential new North West Shelf gas project Mr Connell was credited with $300,000 of donations in the Burke era, featuring a $250,000 donation the day before Bob Hawke’s victory in the July 1987 Federal election. The $998,000 of Bond-linked donations in the Burke era featured $450,000 handed over in the lead-up to the 1987 Federal election. The commission said Rothwells’ boss knew that a $50,000 donation in April 1988 was being used to pay the legal fees of former State Superannuation Board boss Len Brush in fighting corruption charges. Alan Bond remained generous into the Dowding era, chipping in $100,000 in March 1987 and even donating $30,000 in July 1988 for Mr Brush’s legal defence in July 1988. Mr Bond donated $700,000 in the summer of 1988-89 as Mr Dowding was headed for re-election in February 1989. Donations from senior business figures totalled $3.5m in the Burke era and $1.3m in the year from Peter Dowding becoming premier to winning the February 1989 election. But much public imagination was captured by what happened with the $100,000 cash cheque donation from Western Continental, via Mr Connell, in mid-1985. Most of it was used by Mr Burke to buy stamps. This is something police and royal commission investigators ascertained in 1991 despite a lack of assistance from Mr Burke’s secretary Brenda Brush — who had collected the $100,000 cheque from Mr Connell’s office. “Mr Burke displayed a similar reluctance to provide information,” the royal commission said. Mr Burke eventually conceded $87,000 was spent on stamps, a figure neither confirmed nor directly challenged by the commission. The commission said it was satisfied Mr Burke had deliberately diverted funds for his own purposes, which may have included assisting candidates of his choice. The commission also probed gold trading activities through accounts in “fictitious names” using possibly donated funds and bullion. The gold trading demonstrated that “Mr Burke was prepared to use what were ordinarily regarded as campaign funds for most unusual purposes”. Royal commission conclusions: LAW TROUBLES The commission’s report had a confidential annex that identified matters that should be considered by “appropriate authority” for criminal proceedings. Mr Burke and his secretary Brenda Brush were charged with eight counts of stealing more than $120,000. He was convicted in March 1997 and sentenced to 12 months prison. His conviction was overturned four months later by the Court of Appeal in a two-to-one decision and charges against Mrs Brush were dropped after the appeal judges published their reasons. Chief Justice David Malcolm found the original trial judge was wrong to find the charges were proved beyond reasonable doubt, pointing to evidence that ALP representatives did not regard the money as belonging the party. In his minority decision, Justice William Pidgeon said that there was abundant evidence that the donors intended the money to go to the ALP. But Mr Burke failed with appeals — that went all the way to the High Court — over his four convictions for obtaining $17,173 by false pretences from a parliamentary travel account. Porridge premiers: TWICE BITTEN Despite his royal commission roasting and his false pretences conviction, Mr Burke retained powerful supports in business, media, union and ALP circles in the late 1990s. There was enough demand for Mr Burke’s unique skill set for him to make a comeback as a lobbyist and adviser. When WA Labor returned to power in 2003, there was public and private disquiet with newly elected premier Geoff Gallop’s demand that government ministers and their staff keep clear of Mr Burke and his lobbying partner Julian Grill. Some painted his downfall as the work of the conservative establishment, or attacks on a good man who was hunted down after a few things went wrong while he was trying to modernise WA. Mr Burke was finally given a second chance when fellow former journalist Alan Carpenter took over as premier in February 2006 and his close mate Norm Marlborough was appointed as small business minister. Many might say, because of what is revealed by the reports of the WA Inc royal commission and CCC, he blew that chance. Arguably only possessing powers to make findings against government officials, the CCC said that it was limiting itself to “reporting the facts” about the actions of Mr Burke and Mr Grill as “revealed” by its investigations into Mr Burke and his business partner Julian Grill’s lobbying work on the proposed Smiths Beach development in WA’s South West. Mr Marlborough was sacked from the Carpenter ministry in November 2006, just after the the CCC had launched its public inquiry. The day before Mr Marlborough had been sworn in a minister back in February 2006, the CCC reported, a pre-paid mobile phone was connected in his wife’s name and was then “used almost exclusively for contact between the new minister and Mr Burke”. “Mr Burke instructed Mr Marlborough that the phone was not to be revealed to anyone else and that Mr Marlborough was to carry it everywhere with him,” the CCC said. “The content of the calls reveals that Mr Burke acted as though he dominated Mr Marlborough, who for his part was apparently unable to resist the demands of his friend.” The CCC found Mr Marlborough failed to act with integrity by agreeing with Mr Burke that he would appoint former Busselton shire president Beryle Morgan to the South West Development Commission. “The only reasonable conclusion is that Mr Marlborough agreed to appoint Ms Morgan for the improper purpose of complying with Mr Burke’s wishes and without having proper or any regard to the merits of all of the candidates,” the commission said. Legal sequels: ‘DESCREDITABLE’, NOT GUILTY The CCC’s Whitby Land Company inquiry in 2008 related to a proposed residential development on top of what the Department of Industry and Resources said was a $1 billion-plus titanium deposit about 38km south of Perth. DOIR opposed any re-zoning in 2005, but its position flip-flopped in late February 2016 through events that became central to this inquiry. Mr Burke and Mr Grill were lobbying for the hopeful developer Urban Pacific. The focus of the CCC inquiry was Mr Grill’s one-time ministerial staffer Gary Stokes, who had risen to the resource agency’s deputy director-general. The CCC said it was satisfied that Mr Stokes believed Mr Burke and Mr Grill could influence resources minister John Bowler to advance his career. It quoted an intercepted phone call in which Mr Grill said “truth is, I think Gary’s gonna be our man in DoIR”. Mr Burke also said “one of the big things is to convince Bowler he’ll be our bloke there and get Bowler to promote him”. Mr Stokes was the department’s acting director-general from January 23 to February 20, 2006. The day after Mr Stokes’ boss Jim Limerick returned from leave, Mr Stokes told Mr Grill the department had withdrawn its objection to rezoning Urban Pacific’s objection to the residential rezoning. Dr Limerick reversed that decision a week later and sent a letter to State planning officials containing information about the mining potential of the land. At the request of Mr Burke, Mr Stokes had a department official send Mr Burke a copy of that letter, the CCC said. The commission recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions consider prosecuting Mr Stokes. Legal sequels: MINISTERIAL MUDDLE The Smiths Beach inquiry also triggered another into Mr Burke and Mr Grill’s activities, this time focusing on their lobbying activities and how they were connected to their ALP power broking. This inquiry’s most senior target was assistant planning and infrastructure minister Tony McRae. Mr Burke and Mr Grill began lobbying in September 2006 to reverse Mr McRae’s recent re-zoning decision that would delay David Lombardo’s proposed rural subdivision in Gingin shire. The CCC found Mr McRae had “entirely properly” reversed his re-zoning decision on October 9, 2006. But what ground Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith’s gears was Mr McRae’s discussion with Mr Grill on October 11, 2006, where the Riverton MP sought the Labor powerbroker’s help with a planned fundraiser. The commissioner rejected Mr McRae’s claims he told Mr Grill about his decision in favour of Mr Lombardo during that conversation. It said Mr McRae was being “deliberately deceitful” and was trying “to secure the assistance of Mr Grill and Mr Burke in organising his fund-raising”. CCC Findings: NEXT GENERATION Not only was Mr McRae named on the front page of the final CCC report looking at Mr Burke and Mr Grill. The minister’s chief of staff Rewi Lyall co-starred and his tapped conversations with Mr Grill and emails were subject to much scrutiny. But the ALP activist and Artrage board member came up smelling like roses, except for maybe one mistimed request to Mr Grill for help raising money for November 2006’s Ten Days of Artrage event. Yet even with that, Mr Roberts-Smith said Mr Lyall was careful to separate his request for fundraising help from his ministerial dealings and twice refused offers of direct donations from Mr Grill. The pain was only beginning for another ALP activist and ministerial staffer, Nathan Hondros, however. Mr Hondros was one of the examples used by Mr Roberts-Smith to illustrate the suspected link between the ALP activities of Mr Burke and Mr Grill and their lobbying businesses. Mr Burke had boasted of his control over the caucus voting power of Labor’s Old Right faction, while the CCC also said Mr Grill was regarded as “wielding considerable influence within ALP”. “Assisting parliamentarians and candidates with fund-raising was doubly rewarding for Mr Burke and Mr Grill as lobbyists and consultants,” the CCC report said. “Not only might the recipient of the funds be inspired to feel gratitude towards them, it was one of the most effective methods Mr Burke and Mr Grill had for introducing their clients to decision-makers.” Pointing to what he described as Mr Burke’s “grooming” techniques, the CCC commissioner included the transcript of the self-styled powerbroker’s tapped phone call to Mr Hondros in 2006 when he was chief of staff to fisheries minister Jon Ford. “It’s not because I’ve got any obligation to you or to Roger Cook if you come from the left,” Mr Burke said to Mr Hondros. “It’s because I’ve got a view about how the party’s best served 15 years from now. “I’m committed to you and I’ll help you as much as I can, but you have to start getting sensible about things.” In his report, Mr Roberts-Smith said Mr Burke favoured this technique in approaches to ministerial chiefs of staff and young public servants considering forays into politics. Mr Roberts-Smith said it could never be sensibly suggested that having discussions with “able and intelligent young people” about ways to achieve political success could amount to corruption. But these conversations were also part of a campaign to establish a “next generation” of government officials who would remember Mr Burke with appreciation. THE BITTER END Mr Burke’s dealings with the office of fisheries minister Jon Ford were not subject to a high-profile report, but material gathered by the CCC was central to criminal charges that made it all the way to Court of Appeal. The charges arose from work by Mr Burke and Mr Grill for pearl producer Kel Brown in the spring of 2006 as he pushed for an easing on competition restrictions in the pearl industry and changes to make it easier for smaller players. Mr Hondros was charged in 2009 with the unlawful disclosure to Mr Burke of a letter that Mr Ford had sent his Federal counterpart Eric Abetz seeking WA’s access to a $220m Federal buy-out of Commonwealth fisheries. Mr Hondros was also charged with corruption based, in part, on the CCC’s secret recording of his conversations with Mr Burke and Mr Grill about details draft changes to the State draft oyster hatchery policy. He was alternatively charged with unlawfully disclosing an electronic draft copy. Also based on evidence accumulated by the CCC, Mr Burke and Mr Grill were charged with counselling or procuring Mr Hondros to act corruptly over the hatchery policy. They also faced the alternative charge of procuring Mr Hondros to hand over an electronic copy. Supreme Court Michael Murray threw out all the charges, saying Mr Hondros’ sharing of the policy was to advance Mr Ford’s objectives. Justice Murray referred to an allegedly crucial meeting to discuss the policy held in Mr Grill’s inner-city home and secretly recorded by the CCC. During the meeting, Mr Burke also spoke about the need for the ALP to assemble a good team of candidates if Labor was to win the next State election and hang on to government. Mr Hondros’ political aspirations were referred in the conversation and indications of support were given, the judge said. But there was “nothing in that conversation to support a conclusion” that either Mr Grill and Mr Burke were telling Mr Hondros their support was conditional upon him doing the wrong thing in his ministerial job. The trial judge also described the shared letter to Senator Abetz as containing “only technically confidential information”. But the Court of Appeal overturned Justice Murray’s decision in October 2011, saying he should have decided there was a case to answer and then told each defendant to decide whether to call evidence in their defence. The appeal judges ruled there should be a retrial on all three charges against Mr Hondros, and the procuring charge against Mr Burke and Mr Grill. That was not to be. Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Fiannaca dropped all four surviving charges in February 2012. “While there remain reasonable prospects of conviction on each of the remaining counts . . . there is no longer sufficient public interest in the matter proceeding to a retrial,” he said. Public interest was outweighed by factors “including the consequences already suffered by the accused and the cost of the trial to both the accused and the community,” the top prosecutor said.