‘WA Inc’ Brian Burke’s donations tip for Premier Mark McGowan

Ex-WA premier Brian Burke, jailed after WA Inc, says action must be taken over the perceived influence of developers.

Former West Australian Labor premier Brian Burke with George the budgerigar at his Perth home. Picture: Colin Murty

Brian Burke — the once wildly popular West Australian premier who led the state through the heady 1980s, only to end up jailed in the fallout from the WA Inc era — has warned the McGowan government to take action over the perceived influence of property developers.

Premier Mark McGowan has overtaken Mr Burke to set a high-water mark for electoral popularity, recording an approval rating of 94 per cent last year, and is on track to lead Labor to an unprecedented landslide at next month’s state election.

But while there is no suggestion Mr McGowan has ever acted inappropriately like Mr Burke, the two have more in common than just their astounding levels of popularity. The McGowan government’s links with parts of the business community and a string of deals that have benefited prominent business figures have increasingly prompted comparisons to WA Inc.

Those comparisons — made most recently by embattled Liberal leader Zak Kirkup — were rubbished by Mr Burke, who said the current climate was different from the wild days of the 1980s.

“During the ’80s, there was the complete deregulation of the financial system … It was a time before prudential requirements and rules were put in place, it was a bit of a free-for-all. You haven’t got anything like that right now,” Mr Burke said.

The perceived influence of prominent Perth business figures on the WA government has emerged as a growing issue as Labor marches towards potential control of both houses of parliament.

The deals raised by critics of Mr McGowan — such as a lucrative gas-export exemption to a company part-owned by Kerry Stokes, a subsidised riverfront development awarded to Mr Stokes and fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest, and lucrative housing subsidies that have benefited property developers — are not of the same “tenor” as the deals for which Mr Burke’s government was criticised.

But he says Mr McGowan should nevertheless take action to address the perceptions by introducing a ban on donations from property developers.

“It will always be an issue and I think the government would be wise to adopt the same prohibition that they have in NSW and Queensland,” Mr Burke said.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Colin Murty

Billionaire property developer Nigel Satterley has been a vocal critic of the Liberal Party and has helped organise a lavish dinner that is expected to raise about $300,000 for the Labor Party. The outer suburbs that are home to his housing estates have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s $20,000 building stimulus funding. And the government has promised to push ahead with a $100m film studio development in Fremantle proposed by Labor Party donor Hesperia, owned by developers Adrian Fini and Ben Lisle.

Mr Burke and his government ran into trouble after he began raising vast sums of money for the Labor Party’s campaigning efforts. He said no government would be able to remove the “taint” of political fundraising from its decisions for as long as parties had to fund their own election campaigns.

“Taxpayer-funded campaigns will remove the problems associated with the suspicion ¬attached to donations, but it’s very unpopular,” he said.

A Newspoll published in The Weekend Australian last Saturday had Labor leading the Liberals 68-32 on a two-party-preferred basis, a swing that would leave the Liberals at risk of holding as few as two seats. Another poll last year put Mr McGowan’s approval rating at 94 per cent.

“The highest opinion poll rating I ever got was 85,” Mr Burke said. “I never got into the 90s, so he is well in front of me.”

Having experienced the pitfalls that can come with astounding levels of popularity, Mr Burke has some words of caution for Mr McGowan. There is the danger that hugely popular leaders become insensitive and egotistical — something Mr Burke said he didn’t see in Mr McGowan yet — while the government’s swollen backbenches will be full of ambitious and unruly MPs who will believe they deserve ministerial positions.

Mr Burke said Mr McGowan deserved the plaudits he was receiving for his handling of the pandemic. The Premier’s popularity, he said, was just reward for the tenacity Mr McGowan had shown through his career.