Russia has lost its High Court bid to strike out a law preventing it from building a new embassy in Canberra.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there were national security concerns about having the Russian embassy so close to Parliament House.
While the High Court found the new law was valid, the Commonwealth will have to compensate Russia for revoking the lease.
StinkyFingerItchyBum - 1mon
Will the compensation take form of a donation to the "Russian Reparations Fund for the Illegal War of Agression in Ukraine"? The Russian government will get a comemorative bronze plaque apologizing for their evil?
3
tau - 4w
Probably hard to justify legally, I expect the best we can hope for is just giving back the $3m they paid without counting in the massive land price rises since then. It'd be amusing to turn around and make it the new Ukrainian embassy site though...
2
No1 - 4w
What I don't get is that the timeline mentioned above implies that THEY GRANTED A LEASE TO RUSSIA BEFORE THEY HAD EVEN SPOKEN TO ASIO ABOUT IT OR ASKED FOR ADVICE.
Tau in canberra
Russia loses High Court battle with Commonwealth over Canberra embassy site, but will be compensated
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-12/russia-loses-high-court-battle-over-canberra-embassy-site/105999328Russia has lost its High Court bid to strike out a law preventing it from building a new embassy in Canberra.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there were national security concerns about having the Russian embassy so close to Parliament House.
While the High Court found the new law was valid, the Commonwealth will have to compensate Russia for revoking the lease.
Will the compensation take form of a donation to the "Russian Reparations Fund for the Illegal War of Agression in Ukraine"? The Russian government will get a comemorative bronze plaque apologizing for their evil?
Probably hard to justify legally, I expect the best we can hope for is just giving back the $3m they paid without counting in the massive land price rises since then. It'd be amusing to turn around and make it the new Ukrainian embassy site though...
What I don't get is that the timeline mentioned above implies that THEY GRANTED A LEASE TO RUSSIA BEFORE THEY HAD EVEN SPOKEN TO ASIO ABOUT IT OR ASKED FOR ADVICE.