Burns had previously served as the Federal President of Labor between 1970 and 1973, playing a key role in modernising the party prior to the election of Gough Whitlam as the Prime Minister of Australia in 1972.
After attending Brisbane Grammar School, he spent six years in the Royal Australian Air Force before becoming involved in politics.
[3] Burns worked as an organiser for the Labor Party between 1960 and 1965 before his promotion to the position as Queensland State Secretary of the ALP.
As State Secretary, he played a critical role in persuading the Queensland delegates to the National Executive to vote against the expulsion of Whitlam from the ALP in 1966.
His report on the NSW Branch was critical of the running of the 1968 preselection of Paul Keating as the candidate for the Division of Blaxland.