This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE High Court has slapped down Russia’s bid to stop the Commonwealth from taking back a Canberra site close to Parliament House that Moscow was planning to use for a new embassy.
Russia, which came face-to-face with a mutiny launched by mercenary group Wagner over the weekend, filed an injunction on Friday afternoon to challenge laws rushed through Parliament that were designed to cancel Russia’s lease over the Yarramlumla site, preventing it from building a new embassy, on national security grounds.
The High Court ruling came on the same day the federal government announced a $100 million military assistance package for Ukraine in its efforts to stamp out the Russian invasion.
High Court Justice Jayne Jagot threw out Russia’s embassy site bid yesterday, which was followed by the exit of a single Russian diplomat that had been squatting on the site for several days. His diplomatic immunity had prevented federal police from taking action.
“The court has made clear that there is no legal basis for a Russian presence to continue on the site at this time, and we expect the Russian Federation to act in accordance with the court’s ruling,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters yesterday, adding that another embassy would not be built in its place.
“I think it is a pretty good space there, myself at the moment, so it is not intended to give it to or allow for any other embassy to be there either,” he said.
“We will consider the purpose of the land, but we expect the law to be upheld.”
Justice Jagot said Russia’s case that the new legislation was invalid, was doubtful.
“I do not perceive the case for invalidity as a strong one,” she said.
Elliot Hyde, representing Russia, had said there was no detriment to the public or to security if Russia remained on the land for the time being, and that Australia could pull down the sole building on the site before the main question of the validity of the law was determined.
Russia sued Australia last year after the cancellation of Moscow’s lease on the Canberra site, and the Federal Court ruled in favour of the Russian government at the end of May, finding the termination was “invalid and of no effect”.
“The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House,” Albanese said on the day the legislation was pushed through denying Moscow use of the site.
The legislation was supported by the Coalition, whose leadership was briefed by Albanese and security agencies, as were crossbenchers in the House and the Senate and Chief Minister of the ACT, Andrew Barr.
Russia paid $2.75 million for lease rights to the site at the end of 2008 with plans to develop a new embassy and agreed to complete construction within three years. Building approvals were granted in both March and September of 2011, but stage one works – a consular building – were only finished in January last year, after a spend of US$5.5 million. Services are yet to be connected to the building.
