John Saunderson (born 31 May 1948) is a former Australian politician and trade unionist. He was an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

from 1983 to 1990, representing the electorates of Deakin (1983–84) and

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

(1984–90).

Early life

Saunderson was born on 31 May 1948 in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

, England. He was a senior technical officer for Telecom from 1964 to 1980, state president of the

Australian Telecommunications Employees Association The Australian Telecommunications Employees' Association (ATEA) was an Australian trade union representing technician, technical and tradesperson, trades employees in the telecommunications industry from 1912 to 1992. Its members were primarily ...

from 1976 to 1980, and an industrial officer for the union from 1980 until 1983.

Political career

In 1983, Saunderson was elected to the

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for Deakin, and in 1984 successfully contested the new seat of

. A convenor of the

Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...

faction in the later years of the Hawke government, Saunderson was a consistent opponent of attempts to privatise government assets, opposed

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

sales to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, played a significant role in the defeat of the

Australia Card The Australia Card was a proposal for a national identification card for Australian citizens and resident foreigners. The proposal was made in 1985, and abandoned in 1987. History The idea for the card was raised at the national Tax Summit in 1 ...

by opposing his own government's bill as a member of the select committee into it, supported restricting negative gearing to assist first-home buyers, heavily criticised the

Cain Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. How ...

state government over its handling of tramway disputes, supported broadcasting legislation reform in response to the

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate co ...

scandal, opposed liberalising foreign ownership of television stations, and supported the introduction of pay television. He was defeated by Liberal candidate

Peter Nugent Peter Edward Nugent (1 April 1938 – 24 April 2001) was an English-born Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1990 until his death in 2001, representing the Victorian seat ...

at the 1990 election amidst a large anti-Labor swing related to the collapse of the

State Bank of Victoria The State Bank of Victoria was an Australian bank that existed from 1842 until 1990 when it was taken over by the Commonwealth Bank. It was owned by the Government of Victoria, State of Victoria. History A government-controlled savings bank had ...

Later activities

After his defeat, Saunderson returned to his old union, which became the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, as a policy and research officer and then industrial officer.

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Deakin Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Aston Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1948 births Living people Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub