Vickers v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2015] NSWCATAD 14

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Vickers v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2015] NSWCATAD 14 Hearing dates: 1 December 2014 Decision date: 30 January 2015 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Frost, Senior Member Decision: The revocation of the Applicant's firearms licence is affirmed. Catchwords: FIREARMS – firearms licensing – fit and proper person – contraventions of firearms legislation – public interest Legislation Cited: Firearms Act 1996 Firearms Regulation 2006 Cases Cited: Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond (1990) 170 CLR 321 Tannous v Commissioner of Police [2011] NSWADT 116 Category: Principal judgment Parties: John Thomas Vickers (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: Sparke Helmore Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 1410441

Judgment

Reasons for decision 1. Mr Vickers has held a firearms licence since November 2011. It was issued to enable him to undertake recreational hunting/vermin control. In September 2012 he applied to include sport/target shooting on his licence, and his licence was amended accordingly. 2. For reasons set out below, Mr Vickers' firearms licence was suspended in January 2013 and then revoked in February 2014. Mr Vickers sought internal review of the revocation decision but the decision was affirmed. Mr Vickers has now applied to this Tribunal for review of the decision. 3. I have decided to affirm the decision to revoke Mr Vickers' firearms licence. My reasons follow.

The hearing – application for adjournment 1. Mr Vickers' solicitor, Mr Glenn Kable, notified the Tribunal on 25 November 2014, one week before the date set down for the hearing, that he was no longer acting for Mr Vickers. 2. At the commencement of the hearing on 1 December 2014, and as a matter of professional courtesy, Mr Kable, although no longer representing Mr Vickers, appeared for the purpose of notifying the Tribunal that Mr Vickers had contacted him late the previous week to ask him to apply for an adjournment of the hearing. All Mr Kable was able to tell me was that Mr Vickers had informed him that he was in north Queensland, that he was experiencing some unspecified health issues and that he was unable to attend for the hearing. I considered those to be inadequate reasons to justify an adjournment of the hearing, which had been set down since 30 September 2014. 3. After noting also that Mr Vickers had been directed to file and serve any material in support of his review application by 31 October 2014, and that he had not filed any material, I refused the adjournment application and excused Mr Kable. I then conducted the hearing in Mr Vickers' absence.