John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will make sure and the government will make sure during this investigation that the right of freedom of association is upheld. And if that has in any way been abrogated then there would be a consequence of that abrogation. But let me make it clear, in the course of answering this question, that this is a principle that has to be applied with equal force on both sides of the argument. If it is all right to punish a company for imposing a penalty on somebody who has joined a union, it ought to be equally right to impose a like penalty on those who are forced to join a union. That is the difference: we are for freedom of choice; Labor is against it.

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