Brian Burke was Labor premier of Western Australia from February 1983 until his resignation in February 1988, amid concerns of political corruption which later became known as WA Inc.
As a result of the allegations, a royal commission was established in 1991, 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 campaign donations, for which he served six months before the convictions were quashed on appeal.
He re-emerged in public life as a lobbyist and power broker, most notably after Labor won power in 2001. His influence over ministers and government officials was seen as integral to Labor’s failure at the 2008 election.
