In the late 1960s, the CPA, under the leadership of National Secretary Laurie Aarons, became a strong supporter of "Eurocommunism", of abandoning Marxism–Leninism and democratic centralism, and trying to form a "united front" of the various left-wing forces thrown up by the movement of opposition to the Vietnam War.

The SPA was led by a group of veteran trade union officials such as Pat Clancy and Peter Symon.

[9] On 13–14 April 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Australia elected a new leadership led by General Secretary Andrew Irving and National President Vinnie Molina.

[10] The current CPA is a traditional Marxist–Leninist communist party whose ultimate objective is the revolutionary transformation of Australian society and the establishment of socialism in Australia.

The party's main policies are: Michael Perth contested the seat of Port Adelaide in the 1998 and in the 2001 federal elections, but polled less than 1% of the vote in both cases.

At the 2010 federal election the party endorsed a candidate for the House of Representatives seat of Sydney as part of the Communist Alliance.

[16] The Communist Party of Australia planned to run candidates in the 2016 federal election,[17] but their registration was rejected by the Australian Electoral Commission.