Diplomatic Immunity !

There are three thousand five hundred and sixty two diplomats and Consular officials in Australia - and they are immune from prosecution under the laws of this country.  The granting of "Diplomatic Immunity " is a protocol agreed together by world governments  for the protection of their official representatives at times when the relations between nations may be strained.   The land beneath an official embassy is considered to represent home turf and is immune from either entry or search by the police of the host nation.

There is a reciprocal requirement that diplomatic representatives will obey the laws of the country in which they are located, but should the police wish to interview them about any matter they have to first apply to the embassy involved for a "waiver " to temporarily set that immunity aside, and should they wish to lay a charge they would be required to make a second application - and both of these requests may be denied.

It is usual for an embassy to withdraw a diplomat who becomes involved in any contentious conflict.  Despite overwhelming evidence that person is free to go to an airport and leave the country under the terms of diplomatic immunity and this protection extends to any money owing.  A creditor is blocked from appealing to a court for restitution because the matter would first need a waiver from that embassy for prior permission to proceed.   Many countries are delinquent in paying traffic or parking fines imposed on embassy vehicles.

This matter of diplomatic immunity is a guise for espionage.  It is usual for some diplomat with an innocuous official title to be a member of the visiting country's security apparatus and tasked with ferreting out trade secrets and other information that may have military value.  If caught in embarrassing circumstances it is usual for them to be whisked away, back behind national borders where they are safe from further investigation.

The degree of cooperation is in direct ratio to the cordiality between the two countries involved.   Friendly countries usually require their diplomats to be meticulous in staying within local laws and promptly paying monies due, but belligerent regimes tend to hide behind the protocol and this can create hostility where road accidents involving excess alcohol are involved, and the diplomat simply walks away without being charged, leaving the victims to cope with their injuries without compensation.

During the years of the cold war it was usual for embassies to play a pivotal role in sheltering dissidents under threat in their home countries.  Those under threat of arrest were safe if they could reach the protection of a friendly embassy and some resided there for years - to the fury of their national government.   That ploy is still  used by Julian Assage and Edward Snowden who would both be arrested if they set foot on home turf.

The Australian embassy scene has been relatively free of "incidents " beyond the occasional "fender bender " with an embassy car, but older Australians will remember the dramatic events of April 1954, when Vladimir Petrov, third secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra defected and was spirited away into hiding by Australian spooks.  Petrov was a Colonel in the Russian KGB and he was prepared to spill the beans on Soviet espionage in Australia in exchange for safety here.

There was high drama when his wife - Evdokia - also a KGB agent - was being forced to return to Russia and was being escorted by armed Russian "escorts " on the plane journey.  When the aircraft made a fuelling stop in Darwin Evdokia Petrov managed to warn an air hostess that she wanted to stay in Australia and she was freed from her escorts in a fracas with Darwin police.   At that time, this whole affair was splashed across headlines - world wide.

It seems that these days the diplomatic situation in Australia is very civilized, but if you have the misfortune to get involved in a car accident with another car bearing diplomatic number plates -  you chance of getting speedy resolution depends on which world country is the owner of those plates !