Commonwealth terminates lease on new Russian Embassy site near Parliament House

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the Commonwealth has moved quickly overnight and this morning to terminate the lease on the site planned for the new Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canberra.

The termination of the lease comes after the government gained support from the Opposition and cross benches overnight. The bill passed both houses in 73 minutes after being introduced at 9 am on Thursday morning (15 June).

“The Government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House,” the Prime Minister said in a press conference this morning.

“We are acting quickly to ensure the lease site does not become a formal diplomatic presence.”

The government’s action follows numerous delays due to long-running litigation regarding the site located at Block 26 Section 44 on Forster Crescent in Yarralumla. Russia’s main diplomatic presence in Australia is currently located on Canberra Avenue in Griffith.

The National Capital Authority had issued a 20-day termination of the lease on the site in August 2022 after a failure to commence construction on the site since works approvals were granted in 2011. But the NCA elected not to enforce the termination after threats of legal action from the Russian embassy.

The legal action subsequently went ahead. On 31 May this year, the Federal Court declared that the NCA’s notice to terminate the lease was invalid and had no effect, and that it could not re-enter to take possession of the land or interfere with the Russian Embassy’s quiet enjoyment of the land.

Since then, the Commonwealth has moved quickly.

“To be clear, today’s decision is one taken in the national security interests of Australia, and I thank the Coalition and crossbenchers in the House and the Senate for their cooperation in this matter,” Mr Albanese said.

“Once the decision was made on 31 May, I convened a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting,” he added.

“We took advice as to the best way in which we could extinguish this lease.

“I briefed, along with security agencies, briefed the Coalition leadership last night. They will be supporting this legislation, and I thank them for the expeditious passing of it. We also briefed crossbenchers in the House and the Senate earlier this morning, and I have also briefed the Chief Minister of the ACT, Andrew Barr, this morning about this action.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the bill identified a specific piece of land in Canberra and terminated the lease agreement because of its close proximity to Parliament House.

“The government has received clear national security advice that this would be a threat to our national security, and that is why the government is acting decisively today to bring this longstanding matter to a close,” Ms O’Neil said.

“We have made a decision this land will not be used for a future diplomatic presence, and we’ll come back to you when we have further information about the use of that land.”

When asked why the government was allowing Russia to maintain a diplomatic presence at its Griffith location, Mr Albanese said, “Russia does have a diplomatic presence here and that will continue at its existing premises in Griffith, just as Australia has a diplomatic presence in Moscow. This is not about changing that, this is about the specific risk presented by this site, and that is why we are taking this action”.

The site of the terminated lease is located about 600 metres from Parliament House. Within a similar distance also lies the embassies of South Africa, the US, India, the Philippines, Pakistan, France, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the People’s Republic of China.

Mr Albanese said what happens next is up to the Russian Government.

“We don’t expect that Russia’s in a position to talk about international law, given their rejection of it so consistently and so brazenly with their invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities that have occurred, that are occurring on an ongoing basis.”

In a brief response to an email from Region, a Russian Embassy spokesperson said the embassy is currently seeking legal advice and expects to have more to say on its social media channels later.