The Western Australian Development Corporation (WADC) was a trading corporation established in 1983 by the first Burke Ministry of Western Australia. It enabled the state Labor government to involve itself in large-scale business transactions without the normal transparency and accountability of government-guaranteed corporations, and was part of what became known as WA Inc. It appointed John Horgan chairman on a salary of $800,000 p.a., and formed subsidiaries including Exim Corporation which sought to create and exploit export markets for education and other products. The enabling Act provided that "(4.3) The Corporation is an agent of the Crown in right of the State and enjoys the status, immunities and privileges of the Crown..." while "(4.4) Notwithstanding subsection (3), the Corporation shall not be subject to direction by the Minister..."[1]
[T]o make sure he kept secret the dealings of the WADC and its shady subsidiaries such as Exim Corporation, [Burke] pushed through legislation that not only gave them commercial confidentiality but unshackled them from ministerial accountability. The WADC was just one of many Burke creations synonymous with the corporatism of the WA Inc era -- a failed political strategy that folded high-risk business into unethical government and led to financial and social upheaval still resonating a quarter of a century later.
— Tony Barrass (2009), Business and Labor at the birth of WA Inc, The Australian[2]
The WADC's powers and accountability were heavily amended by succeeding governments which finally wound up its operations and repealed its enabling Act on 30 June 1998.[3]