Terence Joseph Burke (born 1 February 1942) is a former member for the seat of Perth in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

. 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 The Tonkin shadow ministry was a Shadow Cabinet led by the Leader of the Opposition (Western Australia), Opposition Leader and leader of the Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch), Labor Party, John Tonkin, in the Parliament of Western ...

. He is the elder brother of former

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

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 Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. His parents were Tom Burke, an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

politician in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1943 to 1955, and Madeline Muirson Orr. Tom Burke had Irish ancestry, and was deeply

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. 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-class

suburb of

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, living in a

California bungalow California bungalow is an alternative name for the American Craftsman style of Residential area, residential architecture, when it was applied to small-to-medium-sized homes rather than the large "ultimate bungalow" houses of designers like Green ...

set on a

quarter acre In Australian and New Zealand English, a quarter acre is a term for a suburban plot of land. Traditionally, Australians and New Zealanders aspired to own a 3- or 4-bedroom house or bungalow on a section of around a quarter of an acre (about 1,000 ...

block.

Political career

Burke joined the Labor Party in 1958. At the

1968 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 23 March 1968 to elect all 51 members to the Legislative Assembly and 15 members to the 30-seat Legislative Council. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir David Bran ...

, he was elected to the

electoral district of Perth The electoral district of Perth is a Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly Electoral districts of Western Australia, electorate in the states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. Perth is named for ...

in the Legislative Assembly. 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

. He was the

shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

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 The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

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 WA Inc was the name for a set of public-private partnerships in Western Australia in the 1980s associated with the Western Australian Development Corporation, which became a political scandal. The state government, which was led for much of t ...

scandal. A

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

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.

Personal life

Burke is

. He married Luciana Mary Sepich on 12 March 1966 at Sacred Heart Church in

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

. He has two sons and two daughters.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Terry 1942 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia