AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2008
WA: Brian Burke's shadow will linger over WA
THE TIMING COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR THE PUBLISHERS - ON THE DAY WEST AUSTRALIAN
PREMIER ALAN CARPENTER WENT TO THE POLLS, A BOOK COVERING THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FORMER
PREMIER BRIAN BURKE WENT ON THE SHELVES. THE SVENGALI-LIKE FIGURE STILL CASTS A LONG SHADOW
OVER WA POLITICS.
By Warwick Stanley
PERTH, Aug 8 AAP - "Brian Burke could have been anything or anyone he wanted to be,"
says a former TV colleague of the one-time journo, fallen premier, ex-convict and latter-day
lobbyist.
"He could have been prime minister, no question."
This reflection won't be found in The Godfather: The Life of Brian Burke, the latest
tome on the man in the Panama hat.
But it's mirrored in many testaments gathered by author Quentin Beresford as he researched
the man who spent five years as one of Australia's most charismatic political leaders,
then 13 months in jail, and whose power and influence has only recently shown signs of
waning.
Prof Beresford, associate professor of politics at Perth's Edith Cowan University,
was given no help by Burke in his analysis of one of Australia's most famous - many would
say infamous - political enigmas.
It is effectively an unauthorised biography - a chronology from the time Burke grew
up as the son a federal Labor MP in one of Perth's poorest suburbs, to his current incarnation
as a wealthy landowner and lobbyist.
Initially, Prof Beresford writes sympathetically of his subject, but any empathy is
lost in the examination of his time as premier, and later, as he engages his former cabinet
colleague Julian Grill as a fellow lobbyist in a return to their familiar roles as Machiavellian
schemers and manipulators.
In fact, Prof Beresford's book has already drawn criticism from a fellow academic for
what he claims is the author's betrayal of his obvious dislike of Burke.
Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, last week wrote
that Prof Beresford "comprehensively documents and demonstrates Burke's charm ... with
such distaste that is is almost hard to accept his premise".
He also criticised Prof Beresford for making the book too "Burke-centric", while failing
to tackle the questions of why and how the West Australian community allowed him to flourish
when there was no example of a similar phenomenon in any other Australian state.
That could be a little unfair, as former prime minister Paul Keating and current Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd are among those who have come in praise, even after the disgraced
premier's fall from grace.
Bob Hawke is also on that list of admirers, although his West Australian antecedents
may disqualify him from arguing Prof Craven's premise.
It is also hard to accept Prof Craven's argument that the book is "rather less compelling
as it approaches the present day".
For this reader, a newcomer to West Australian shores, it offered a compelling contemporary
history of West Australian politics, from cover to cover.
As the book illustrates, Burke's fingerprints are all over WA Inc and almost every
notable political "fix" in WA for the past 25 years.
He has done it all while portraying himself as a member of "the anti-establishment
establishment", the ordinary man's premier, a victim of unjust convictions who was unjustly
jailed, and most importantly to Burke himself, as a man who puts family first.
The contradictions - in his apparent image of himself and his deeds - are stark.
Perhaps, as Prof Beresford surmises, there has been a character change since Burke
faced the WA Inc Royal Commission and was subsequently jailed on charges of defrauding
the state over his travel allowance and stealing from the Labor party (a charge that was
later quashed).
It could explain his current less-than-public profile and his own caricature of a Godfather-like
figure in his more recent, infrequent public appearances.
The Godfather was in fact a complimentary name attached to Burke after he became the
Member for the Perth seat of Balga in 1973.
In the under-resourced electorate, at a time when WA was dirt poor, he won the affection
of the electorate by totally committing himself to their needs.
He would get his constituents to bring their kids down to his office if they were in
trouble, and give them a talking-to in an effort to steer them out of trouble.
He gave money to people in financial strife to the point where his wife Sue complained
that the family's own finances were suffering as a result of his generosity.
He was following in the footsteps of the most important person in his world - his father.
Tom Burke, the federal Member for Perth for 12 years from 1943 who was known for his
expertise on economic matters and was a close friend of John Curtin and Ben Chifley, was
remembered in Brian's maiden speech to parliament.
"Any credit that is mine is due to him," he said, and 14 years later, when announcing
his impending retirement from parliament, he described him as the "the greatest single
influence on my life".
But a difference between father and son had already become apparent when Brian was
only young, writes Prof Beresford.
Quoting John Hamilton's Burkie: A Biography of Brian Burke, he said Brian was unlike
his father, who had a likeable and straightforward approach to the world. The younger
Burke started showing signs of being precocious while in primary school.
"He could charm the nuns and have other children in stitches of laughter by peeling
off one-liners with ease."
According to Prof Beresford, Burke's father was not the biggest influence on his life.
As the author persistently maintains throughout the book, that honour should go to
Huey Long, the Democrat governor of Louisiana and US senator of the depression years who
built one of the largest mass followings in American history.
Long had sparked intense debate in his lifetime and after as to whether he was a populist
or a demagogue, writes Prof Beresford.
"He had a reputation for political graft and his eventual assassination by an irate
opponent only served to enhance his place as one of the most controversial of America's
politicians."
A feature article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1989 was the first publication to
uncover Burke's infatuation with Long, Prof Beresford said, in pointing to him as the
source of Burke's drive to control millions derived from fundraising activities.
But in the book's epilogue, which quotes an unnamed informant as saying had Burke admitted
to "moulding" his career on that of Huey Long, another well-known political figure emerges
as a possible influence on the life of Brian Burke.
His informant said that years ago, a union friend had lent him a book belonging to Burke.
It was entitled Machiavelli: A Dissection, written by Sydney Anglo.
For Prof Beresford, it was "the missing piece of the puzzle".
Burke had been introduced to interpretations of Machiavelli's old dictum that "necessity
has no law".
According to Anglo, Machiavelli believed "necessity had many laws, but they were different
from all other rules of conduct".
Concludes Prof Beresford: "Along with Huey Long, could this have been the imprint for
Burke's career?"
The Godfather: The Life of Brian Burke. By Quentin Beresford. RR: (paperback) $35.
Publisher: Allen and Unwin.
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KEYWORD: BURKE (AAP NEWSFEATURE) (FILE PIX) RPTG
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