Australian Communist Party ban referendum, 1951

1951 Australian referendum
22 September 1951
Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Powers to deal with Communists and Communism) 1951'?
Results
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
  Yes     No
Note: Saturation of colour denotes strength of vote

The 1951 Australian Referendum was held on 22 September, 1951, and sought approval for the federal government to ban the Communist Party of Australia. It was not carried.

Background

In 1951, the Menzies government passed a law banning the Communist Party of Australia. The party challenged the law in the High Court, which ruled that it was constitutionally invalid. Following this defeat, the government sponsored this referendum in an attempt to overcome this constitutional obstacle. The referendum question was opposed, not surprisingly, by the Communist Party. It was also opposed by the Australian Labor Party and even the Young Liberals, on the grounds that it would restrict freedoms of speech and association.

Question

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Powers to deal with Communists and Communism) 1951'?

Results

Result [1]
StateOn

rolls

 Ballots

issued

 For Against Invalid
% %
New South Wales1,944,219 1,861,147 865,83847.17% 969,868 52.83%25,441
Victoria1,393,556 1,326,024 636,81948.71% 670,513 51.29%18,692
Queensland709,328 675,916 373,15655.76% 296,019 44.24%6,741
South Australia442,983 427,253 198,97147.29% 221,763 52.71%6,519
Western Australia319,383 305,653 164,98955.09% 134,497 44.91%6,167
Tasmania164,868158,596 78,15450.26% 77,349 49.74%3,093
Armed Forces*  9,472 6,478  2,917  82
Total for Commonwealth4,974,337 4,754,589 2,317,92749.44% 2,370,009 50.56%66,653
Obtained majority in three States and an overall minority of 52 082 votes.
Not carried

* Armed forces totals are also included in their respective states.

Source: Australian Parliament - Referendum results.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. .
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.