Trigg v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2018] NSWCATAD 272

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Trigg v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2018] NSWCATAD 272 Hearing dates: 3 May 2018 Date of orders: 27 November 2018 Decision date: 27 November 2018 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: T Simon, Senior Member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed Catchwords: FIREARMS - prohibited weapon – silencer – genuine reason –- whether vermin control is a genuine reason contemplated by the Act Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (NSW) Weapons Prohibition Act 1998 (NSW) Cases Cited: Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force v Allen [2016] NSWCATAP 148 Marando v Commissioner of Police [2018] NSWCATAD 29 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Michael John Trigg (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Applicant In Person H El-Hage(Respondent) File Number(s): 2018/00004629 Publication restriction: None

Reasons for Decsion 1. This is an application by Mr Trigg for review of a decision made by the Commissioner of Police refusing to issue the applicant with a licence for a silencer.. 2. The applicant has held a Category AB firearms license (target shooting and recreational hunting/vermin control) since 14 April 2011 and that license expires on 9 June 2021.

Background 1. On 15 March 2016 the applicant lodged an application for a prohibited weapons permit. The application was refused on 8 August 2017 and the applicant then lodged an internal review of the refusal. On 6 December 2017 the commissioner refused the application under the Weapons Prohibition Act 1998 (NSW) (the Act) for a General Prohibited Weapons Permit to possess and use a silencer. 2. The review made a number of material findings of fact including that there were no issues raised in relation to the applicant's character and that he had held a firearms license without blemish and no breaches have been found. The initial application has been refused on 8 August 2017 on the grounds that genuine reasons were not demonstrated to authorise the possession and use of the silencer. The Commissioner concluded: "I accept you are of good character, and possession and use of a silencer is clearly desirable to you. However, based upon the totality of the information before me. I am satisfied that you have not demonstrated that the recreational/sporting activity concerned requires the prohibition sought. In my view the granting of your application does not accord with either the principles and objects of the Act, or Parliament's intended strict controls on access to prohibited articles. As a result, I believe the Commissioner's decision was preferable."