The Castle remains good law in Australia. Almost three decades since the battling suburban solicitor Dennis Denuto introduced us all to the high legal concept of “the vibe of the thing”, the High Court has broadly endorsed the classic movie’s basic contention: a man’s home is his castle.

And, our highest court says, that applies even if the home hasn’t been built yet and when the man is not cuddly Darryl Kerrigan of screen fame but the highly unfashionable litigant Vladimir Putin.

The case, in which the unanimous Full Court judgment was brought down on 12 November, was Government of the Russian Federation v Commonwealth of Australia [2025] HCA 44, which was previewed in Pearls on 10 August.

Russia was contesting the Australian Government action — by rapid-fire bipartisan legislation in June 2023 — to stop the Russians building their new embassy close to Parliament House, on a lease of land they had received back in 2008.

The reason for the blocking action was, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, because the government had received “very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so........

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