At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Burnett competed in the 200-metre freestyle and won silver with a time of 1:47.38, beaten by team mate Ross Davenport, who swam a personal best of 1:47.29. He was also part of the relay team in the 4×100-metre freestyle, finishing fourth, with the South African favourites taking gold. However, the most sensational race was the 4×200-metre freestyle, when the English team won the gold medal, nudging Scotland into second place and Australia into third. The next day, he won individual gold in the 100-metre freestyle, leaving the South African entrants Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman into second and third respectively. With a time of 48.57 seconds, he set a Commonwealth Games record and broke his own British record by eleven one-hundredths of a second.
