Bill Sutton (New Zealand politician)

New Zealand Parliament

Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1984–1987	41st	Hawkes Bay			Labour
1987–1990	42nd	Hawkes Bay			Labour

William David Sutton (born 1944) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

He represented the Hawkes Bay electorate in Parliament from 1984, when he defeated Richard Harrison, to 1990, when he was defeated by Michael Laws. His highest position was Chairman of Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Select Committee from 1988 to 1990.^[1]

He was subsequently elected a councillor on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council from 1992 to 1995.

He is a brother of former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister Jim Sutton. They were elected to Parliament each for the first time in 1984. Bill Sutton's then wife Jacque Aldridge gave birth to their second son David the night of the election.

In 1969 Sutton completed a PhD in biochemistry at Massey University,^[2] and worked as a research scientist from 1969 to 1984. After retiring from politics he worked as a senior policy analyst from 1996 to 2007.

He now lives in Napier and is a published poet. appearing in Takahe, Poetry New Zealand, Jaam, and other literary magazines. His second published poetry collection Billy Button - A Life (HB Poetry Press, 2016) included a brief autobiographical summary.

References

1. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
2. Sutton, William (1969). The structure of the bacterophage alpha DNA molecule (Doctoral thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/3822.

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Richard Harrison	Member of Parliament for Hawkes Bay 1984–1990	Succeeded by Michael Laws