Page:Government of the Russian Federation v Commonwealth of Australia.pdf/12

Jagot J

33 In any event, it seems to me that this is, as it were, "by the by" in that the GRF has not referred to anything other than its desire to maintain the "integrity and security" of its buildings. There is no meaningful evidence to explain why the GRF takes the view that it would need to destroy the buildings and, as the Commonwealth has submitted, if that ultimately turns out to be the case then that is a decision wholly within the control of the GRF. Further, the evidence is clear that this (the possible destruction of the buildings) assumes that the GRF would be successful in the overall proceedings and therefore involves a contingency.

34 Overall, however, effect must be given to the clear provisions of the Act in which the Parliament has made the decision to terminate the lease and all interests without any temporal delay or other reservation of rights. In these circumstances, it is the terms of the Act itself which both constitute the radical change in circumstances from the previous position and indicate that there is no proper foundation for the granting of the interlocutory injunction as sought by the GRF.

35 For these reasons, I accept the submissions of the Commonwealth that the interests which the GRF has identified in its affidavits and otherwise through the submissions put on its behalf are plainly outweighed by the interest in not preventing the operation of the Act, the sole function of which is to terminate the GRF's interests in the Land, according to the Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speech, for national security reasons. It is immaterial that those reasons are not referred to in terms on the face of the Act.

36 As the Commonwealth has further submitted, it is not to the point that the Commonwealth may not have identified an immediate purpose for which it requires the Land, given that the Commonwealth has a clear sovereign interest in being able to determine that the Land will not be occupied by the GRF, and has done so in the provisions of the Act.

37 In these circumstances, the appropriate orders which should be made are that:

1. The application filed 23 June 2023 be dismissed.

2. The costs of the application filed 23 June 2023 be costs in the cause.