Terry Burke Biography
Terence Joseph Burke (born 1 February 1942) is a former member for the seat of Perth in the Western Australian Legislative *embly. He held the seat between 1968 and 1987. In 1974, with the Labor Party in Opposition, he was a member of the Tonkin shadow ministry. He is the elder brother of former premier Brian Burke and both are sons of former federal shadow cabinet member Tom Burke.
Early life
Burke was born on 1 February 1942 in 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. Terry Burke was the first child out of five: the second child was Anne Burke, the third child was Brian Burke, the fourth child was Frankie Burke, who had down syndrome, and the fifth child was Genevieve Burke. He grew up in the middle-cl* Perth suburb of Wembley, living in a California bungalow set on a quarter acre block.
Political career
Burke joined the Labor Party in 1958. At the 1968 Western Australian state election, he was elected to the electoral district of Perth in the Legislative *embly. His brother Brian was elected to the electoral district of Balcatta in a 1973 by-election.
Following Labor's 1974 election loss, Burke became a member of the Tonkin shadow ministry. He was the shadow chief secretary, shadow minister for conservation and the environment, and shadow minister for fisheries and fauna until April 1977. His brother became the premier of Western Australia after the 1983 state election.
On 18 March 1987, Burke resigned from parliament.
He was later found to be involved in events related to the WA Inc scandal. A royal commission found that Burke had received a $600,000 commission for fundraising campaign donations paid to his brother and the Labor Party during the 1987 federal election.
[The commission was paid for work done for the Party after Burke retired from State Parliament in 1987, and under a proposal put to him by Michael Behan, the then State Secretary of the Labor Party. The proposal, which was endorsed by the Administrative Committee of the Party and formally accepted by Burke on 19 May 1987, specified that Burke was to be paid a 25 percent commission on funds raised for the Party. Over the next twelve months Burke raised $2,506,084 for the Party and was paid a total Commission of $626,521, which worked out, after tax to be $391,576. Footnote 8 re source <Information supplied by anonymous sources of Joseph Poprzeczny, former journalist with The Australian, a News Limited newspaper published in Sydney, Western Australia>/ref>
Personal life
Burke is Catholic. He married Luciana Mary Sepich on 12 March 1966 at Sacred Heart Church in Highgate. He has two sons and two daughters.
References
Bibliography
- Hamilton, John (1988). Burkie: A biography of Brian Burke. St. George Books. ISBN:0867780363.
- Peachey, Brian (1992). The Burkes of Western Australia. Peacheys Holdings. ISBN:9780959426113.
- Beresford, Quentin (2008). The Godfather: The life of Brian Burke. Allen & Unwin. ISBN:1741755565.
- Burke, Brian (2017). A tumultuous life. ISBN:9780648009603.
- Kennedy, Peter (2019). Tales from Boom Town: Western Australian premiers from Brand to McGowan (Revised and updated:ed.). UWA Publishing. ISBN:9781760800246.
- Bond/R&I Tower
- Burswood Casino
- Central Park
- Kwinana Petrochemical Plant
- Observation City
- Westralia Square
- 1989 state election
- 1990 Labor Party leadership spill
- 1993 state election
