Hijazi v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police [2014] NSWCATAD 148

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Hijazi v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police [2014] NSWCATAD 148 Hearing dates: 10 July 2014 Decision date: 19 September 2014 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Frost, Senior Member Decision: Revocation of category G firearms licence affirmed; revocation of category A, B and H firearms licences set aside. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - Civil and Administrative Tribunal - firearms licensing Legislation Cited: Firearms Act 1996 Firearms Regulation 2006 Cases Cited: Tannous v Commissioner of Police [2011] NSWADT 116 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Ahmad Hijazi (Applicant) Commissioner of Police (Respondent) Representation: Counsel A Poljak (Applicant) Barakat Lawyers (Applicant) Bartier Perry Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 1410010

reasons for decision

Introduction and background 1This is an application to review a decision of the Commissioner of Police to revoke Mr Hijazi's firearms licences. The licences were first suspended in January 2013, and then revoked in September 2013. Mr Hijazi asked for an internal review of the Commissioner's decision but the decision was confirmed. 2Mr Hijazi has held firearms licences since 2002. Originally the licences Mr Hijazi held were in categories A and B, which deal with shotguns and rifles. In 2007 he was issued with a Probationary Pistol Permit. That permit expired in July 2008. Mr Hijazi did not intend for the permit to expire but he failed to have it renewed within time. As a result of the expiry Mr Hijazi was unlawfully in possession of firearms despite not having a valid permit or licence for them. In December 2008 members of the Police Force attended his home and seized his firearms. Two months later, in February 2009, Mr Hijazi was successful in having category H (target shooting) added to his firearms licence and the firearms previously seized were returned to him. 3In July 2011 Mr Hijazi obtained a collector's licence, which is commonly referred to as a category G licence (although the legislation does not designate it in that way). A licence of that kind has very stringent storage requirements attached to it; these are dealt with in s 20(e) of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW) and clause 34(7) of the Firearms Regulation 2006, which are quoted in [8] and [9] below. Police visited Mr Hijazi's home in May 2012 to carry out an inspection of his firearms storage arrangements and were satisfied with them. However, on a further inspection carried out in January 2013, the storage arrangements were considered to be unsatisfactory and Mr Hijazi's licences were suspended.