Optical telescope sites ideally need to be somewhat remote (to avoid light pollution) yet still accessible for construction, engineering, and observing; high in altitude; dry; with exceptional "seeing" (stable atmospheric conditions); and clear weather. Neither Australia nor Russia really have any sites meeting all those criteria: their mountains tend to have some combination of too low altitude, poor seeing, and/or bad weather. (This is also why there aren't any really big, modern telescopes in Europe.)
This site has some discussion of the different criteria that go into choosing the best sites for new, large telescopes.
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