Reprieve for Reds

AUSTRALIA Reprieve for Reds Australia's Parliament last year passed a bill outlawing the country's small (15,000) but troublesome Communist Party. The bill authorized the federal government to designate as a Communist anyone whose acts prejudice public safety, and bar him from Crown employment or key trade-union leadership. In March the High Court declared the law unconstitutional. Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies' Liberal-Country (conservative) coalition countered by proposing a constitutional amendment to sanction the act.

Australia's Labor Party, led by ex-Deputy Prime Minister Herbert Evatt, charged that the amendment threatened civil liberties, and led a heated campaign against it. Last week, in a nationwide referendum, Australians rejected the amendment. Said Menzies: "I'm going to have one hand tied behind my back in my fight against Communism. [But] I intend to keep on fighting."

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