1951 Australian Communist Party ban referendum

1951 Australian Communist Party ban referendum

22 September 1951 (1951-09-22)
Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled— "Constitution Alteration (Powers to deal with Communists and Communism) 1951" ?
Outcome	Not carried. A majority "no" vote nationally and in three states.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 2,317,927 49.44% No 2,370,009 50.56% Valid votes 4,687,936 98.60% Invalid or blank votes 66,653 1.40% Total votes 4,754,589 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 4,974,337 95.58%
Results by state Results by federal electoral division Results by state, and division
Note: Saturation of colour denotes strength of vote

This article is part of a series about Robert Menzies
Early life State politics Member for Kooyong (1934–1966) 1938 Dalfram dispute United Australia Party spills 1939 1943 Prime Minister of Australia First term of government (1939–1941) Entry into WW2 Advisory War Council Liberal Party foundation Second term of government (1949–1966) ANZUS Communist Party ban 1951 Communist Party ban referendum Petrov Affair Royal Commission on Espionage Entry into Vietnam War Ministries First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Elections 1940 1946 1949 1951 1953 (Half-Senate) 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 (Half-Senate) The Forgotten People
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On 22 September 1951, a referendum was held in Australia which sought approval to alter the Australian Constitution to give Parliament the power to make laws regarding communism and communists, so that the Parliament would be empowered to instate a law similar to the Communist Party Dissolution Act of 1950.^[1] It was not carried.^[2]