John Sutton
John Sutton is Director, Industry Superannuation Property Trust, Sydney.
Education
University of Sydney, bachelor of economics ( honours)Labor and Industrial Relations, 1976 - 1979.
CFMEU
National Secretary Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, June 1980 - December 2010.
Management Committee
The Catalyst Australia Committee for 2013 consisted of: Dr Richard Archer (President), Susan Hopgood (Treasurer-Secretary), Alison Peters (Vice-President), John Sutton (resigned March 2013), Paul Bastian (resigned March 2013), Andrew Dettmer (from March 2013), David Carey (resigned November 2012), Lesley Gruit (November 2012 - May 2013), Maree O'Halloran, David McKnight, Chris Gambian, Louise Tarrant and Jo-anne Schofield (Executive Director).[1]
Catalyst Forum
On August 16 2010, Catalyst Australia and the Australia Institute sponsored a high-powered forum on corporate power, looking at the global financial, finance and mining capital in Austalia.
Jack Gray is a significant voice on global finance with UN credentials, and presently works at the University of Technology Sydney. He reviewed the global financial crash of 2008-09 and concluded that virtually nothing had been learnt from that crash. He presented figures to show that the global finance sector had expanded so much since 1970 that it represented today a 4.5 per cent tax on the rest of the economy.
Josh Fear, Deputy Director of the Australia Institute, spelt out the details on Australia's banking system - he called the session: 'Banks Behaving Badly'.
Maree O'Halloran, Director of the Welfare Rights Centre, reported that banks continue to send pre-approved credit cards to people relying on welfare benefits.
Christopher Zinn, Director Magazine, reported that very few people switch banks, despite the repeated urgings of Treasurers and Prime Ministers to 'use competition' to get a better deal.
In the next session, entitled 'Well Resourced', Tony Maher from the Mining & Energy Division of the CFMEU said that the mining companies were worse than the banks, and certainly bigger.
Dr Rae Cooper from Sydney University, John Sutton (CFMEU), and Rod Masson of the Finance Sector Union presented detailed critiques of corporate conduct for women at work, on health and safety in John Holland Construction, and on employment conditions in the finance sector.
The final session was on 'the hand that feeds - corporate donations and political parties'.
Prof Keith Ewing of Kings College London related lessons from the British elections, noting that big political donations are a glob problem. These corporate donations mean that governments a sensitive to corporate criticism, not public criticism, they promo 'free markets' and 'free choice' in lifestyles, and allow media promote their own interests as the public interest.
He noted that Australia was very lightly regulated on politic donations, and they only get reported after the elections is over. He called for: A ban on all foreign donations
Lee Rhiannon, then a Greens Senate candidate, drew attention the Canadian model, and criticised the failure of both Labor a Liberal Governments, state and federal, to implement restrictions on political donations, after repeated promises to do so.
Louise Tarrant, National Secretary of the Liquor Hospitality a Miscellaneous Union, argued that the political donations debate was a proxy for the struggle over corporate influence, which can only be countered by a citizen capacity for collective action, whe people overcome fear and fatalism, and engage their political w for the common good.
SEARCH Foundation is a member of Catalyst Australia.[2]
Green
14th of September 1991, Bruce Welch was elected to Marrickville Council and John Sutton was elected to Newcastle Council. They were the first Greens elected to local government in NSW.
McDonald influence
Don McDonald taught and mentored union delegates and officials about how to organise and campaign. He explained to activists how capitalism worked and the need to replace it with a more just society. Former CFMEU national secretary, John Sutton, recalls that “thousands of building workers were trained in Don’s book, Five Rough Lectures on Marxism,” something that attracted the ire of the Royal Commissioner.
Broadside Weekly
An addition to the alternative media is due to appear this week with the first issue of a new paper, Broadside Weekly.
Described as "an independent, broadly based left and progressive weekly", Broadside will be formally launched in Sydney on June 5.
Proposals for the project were initiated in the second half of 1990. The new paper has a supporters' association headed by a board consisting of Brian Aarons, Anthony Albanese, Wendy Bacon, Peter Barrack, Meredith Burgmann, Wendy Caird, Patricia Caswell, Kerren Clark, Tony Cooke, Drew Hutton, Ron Knowles, Stuart MacIntyre, Tom McDonald, Peter Murphy, Carmel Shute, John Sutton, Lindsay Tanner, Jo Vallentine and Roger Woock.[3]