Formed in Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 in October 1984, the John Curtin Foundation was a fundraising organisation for the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 which attracted the sponsorship of a powerful group of wealthy businessmen, placing them in a privileged circle with direct access to both the Australian prime minister Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke

Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....

 and the state premier Brian Burke

Brian Burke

Brian Thomas Burke was Labor premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1983 until his resignation on 25 February 1988...

. The foundation was an early step to the creation of a unique network of corporate and government co-operation which was dubbed WA Inc

WA Inc

WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie Connell and Warren Anderson...

 by news media. This Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

-like patronage of business caused multiple financial disasters, leading to a royal commission which exposed and condemned the corruption.

Prime minister hosts magnates

In October 1984, 21 months after Brian Burke became the first of a line of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

n Labor premiers, Bob Hawke, himself having been in the prime minister's job for only 20 months, hosted a lunch for the new foundation.

It was the brainchild of Laurie Connell

Laurie Connell

Laurie Connell was a Western Australian business entrepreneur. He was well known for his dealings with the Government of Western Australia and his close relationship with the then Premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke, during the WA Inc period in the mid to late 1980s as chairman of the...

, Labor strategist Jack Walsh and Burke, and named after Hawke's wartime political hero John Curtin

John Curtin

John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...

. [As well as Alan Bond

Alan Bond (businessman)

Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...

 and Laurie Connell

Laurie Connell

Laurie Connell was a Western Australian business entrepreneur. He was well known for his dealings with the Government of Western Australia and his close relationship with the then Premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke, during the WA Inc period in the mid to late 1980s as chairman of the...

,] Hawke also mingled with John Roberts

John Roberts (businessman)

John Charles Roberts AO was an Australian businessman who was the founding chairman and an executive director of construction company Multiplex.-Early life and career:...

, the hard-as-a-hammer builder who created the giant Multiplex corporation, the philanthropic James McCusker, founder of the Town and Country building society, Ernest Lee-Steere

Ernest Henry Lee-Steere

Sir Ernest Henry Lee-Steere, KBE was a prominent Australian businessman. He was particularly noted for his involvement in horse racing in Western Australia, becoming chairman of the Western Australian Turf Club from 1963 to 1984. He was also Lord Mayor of Perth from 1972 to...

, the pastoralist, racehorse owner and Perth lord mayor, prominent businessman Kevin Parry

Kevin Parry

Kevin John Parry was a businessman from Western Australia, most noted for his backing of the Taskforce '87 syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Western Australia...

 and Ric Stowe, Australia's most reclusive billionaire, of Griffin Coal fame.

Others were timber entrepreneur Denis Cullity, prominent Catholic businessman John Horgan, and bookmaker Rod Evans, who was also a publican and substantial Perth property owner.

[In evidence to the WA Inc

WA Inc

WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie Connell and Warren Anderson...

 Royal Commission,] Connell alleged that Hawke dropped a proposed gold tax after Connell and various Perth high-flyers donated $250,000 each to Labor during an infamous lunch in Brian Burke's office in 1987 — a claim the former PM vigorously denied.

Burke's loyalty to those who had donated their efforts (and money) to Labor was no less fervent. Taking the John Curtin Foundation axiom to the next level, Burke created the West Australian Development Corporation and installed fellow Catholic John Horgan (pictured second from left, top) on $800,000 a year, an extraordinary figure for a public servant not only then but now.

State government's corporate strategy

In order to become directly involved in large-scale business transactions, premier Burke created a state-financed holding company, the West Australian Development Corporation, headed by John Horgan on a salary of $800,000 p.a., and subsidiaries including Exim Corporation which sought to create and exploit export markets for education and other products. Legislation was pushed through which removed these operations from parliamentary scrutiny and ministerial accountability.