Political Rise
In 1994 he left the army and entered politics, winning Country Liberal Party endorsement to contest the safe Palmerston-based seat of Brennan, at the expense of sitting member and Perron government minister Max Ortmann. Ortmann subsequently contested the seat as an independent, but was easily defeated by Burke.
Burke was first promoted to the Cabinet of the Northern Territory the following year, serving as Minister for Water and Power, Work Health and the Minister Responsible for the Territory Insurance Office. He rose through the party, and in June 1996, was appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Health. He was re-elected at the 1997 election, and was once again promoted, taking on several more minor portfolios, as well as being appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council. In early 1998, he was one of two Country Liberal Party parliamentary delegates to the territory's Statehood Convention. In October 1998 he was appointed as the Leader of Government Business, and in December, took on a new set of responsibilities - among them industry, regional development, gaming and defence support.
Read more about this topic: Denis Burke (Australian Politician)
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