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GOVERNMENT &
SERVICEMEN
Doubts of Country
Party Leader
The Leader of the Australian
i Country party (Mr. Faddeni,
: speaking ' at Sale yesterday ,-
; claimed that the adoption, of the
: referendum proposals would not
improve one. iota the position of
the Australian people or service-
: men and their dependants. He
I said the returned serviceman who
: was- not a trades unionist or who
: had the courage to resist Labor's.
; policy of , forced unionism, would
I find himself thrown on . the in
dustrial scrap heap by the Curtin-
. Evatt Government, which would
have no timie for him. Mr. Ward
was opposed to giving him prefer
ence, and the A.C.TiU. .had de
clared in most emphatic terms
; that preference should be aban-
i doned. Mr. -Curtin had consist-
i ently refused to introduce legisla-
tion granting preference. -There-.-
| fore, what chance would a re-
! turned man have while Labor re-
i mained In office ?. The only con-
i cem ol Mr. Curtin, Dr.. Evatt and
: their trades union-ridden col-
leagues was to. force, into the
' union movement every man from
i whom their trade union masters
! could extract union fees. .
Obviously, Mr.' Fadden said,
1 Mr. Curtin and. Dr. Evatt were in
sincere in that they were prepared
to take risks with the interests of
: the fighting men and service
wqmen. They- knew full well that
' the power already existed, to deal
: with this all-important problem,
: and were using repatriation and
! preference merely as a - political
: bait to obtain the votes of service
men and their . dependants. He
' challenged Mr;': Curtin to say why,
' 11 his Government had any real
i doubts about its repatriation pow-
: era/including preference, it did
; not seek Parliamentary approval
; ol this particular power in a sepa-
i rale bill, and the " people's en-
i dorsement by submitting "it- as a
i separate and specific question ?
$