The Freedom of Association

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Australian Constitution, which does not guarantee the freedom of association for its citizens. It describes the international and Australian laws that do exist to protect these rights: The Industrial Relations Reform Act 1993 and The Workplace Relations Act of 1996. The paper describes how the war on terrorism threatens these laws further.

From the Paper:

"In the simplest terms, the freedom of association refers to the freedom to join a union or association without fear of outside interference. Australia does not guarantee freedom of association in her Constitution. As a result, Australia has ratified several international covenants on freedom of expression, and used international laws as a basis for the Industrial Relations Reform Act 1993. The Workplace Relations Act of 1996, which specifically protected the freedom of association, and provided specific penalties for breaching the Act, superseded the 1993 Act. Recently, the war on terrorism has presented an unexpected threat to Australia's freedom of association laws. This renewed the argument that the freedom of association should be guaranteed, by law, within the body of Australia's constitution."

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