He previously served in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 to 1997, holding the seat of Playford.
They settled in Adelaide, South Australia, where Quirke attended Elizabeth High School.
He was re-elected at the 1993 election, which saw the defeat of the incumbent ALP government, and subsequently joined Mike Rann's shadow cabinet.
Quirke chaired the Select Committee on the Socio-Economic Consequences of the National Competition Policy, which was established in 1998 and reported in 2000.
[1] Quirke resigned from the Senate due to ill health in August 2000, following a collapse at an ALP conference.
The firm gifted the Australian Labor Party some $11,000 in 2010 while employed by two major corporations seeking public works contracts.