Quentin Beresford

Doesn't seem like much for a guy behind the biggest corporate fraud in Australian history.

And also Quentin Beresford says people are

pissed.

This country has treated these white-collar criminals incredibly lightly.

The commission reveals that Premier Brian Burke had kept a secret political slush fund, the leader's account.

Author Quentin Beresford.

That royal commission found that Burke's leader's account may have had about 7 million in, in it, and we're talking late 1980s, so you could probably double that.

Bondy, Laurie Connell, all of Perth's big boys have been donating millions to WA Labor since Burke was elected in 1983.

But back in the '80s, Bond and Connell are tight, part of the boys' club, the master networkers that dominate Perth's business world.

And author Quentin Beresford says Alan and Laurie are cut from the same cloth, that they share a taste for the finer things

He was also a big racehorse owner.

He, reputed to have owned 400 racehorses.

And look, there's no doubt that winning the Cup has given Bondy a huge leg up and, when Eileen's not around, a leg over.

But he's also in the right place at the right time because in the mid-1980s, Australia's entering a new era, an era which, according to author Quentin Beresford, favors risk-taking entrepreneurs like Bond, the era of the corporate cowboy.

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The Hawke-Keating government had deregulated the economy.

They understand the power of marketing, of how a lavish lifestyle looks.

Bondy's not just flaunting his wealth because he can.

Author Quentin Beresford says it's strategic.

Bond saw conspicuous consumption as a tool for business, that if you project success, it will give you leverage in the banks, that, that the banks will find you a compelling customer.