Tubie v Commissioner of Fair Trading [2020] NSWCATOD 8

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Tubie v Commissioner of Fair Trading [2020] NSWCATOD 8 Hearing dates: 16 January 2020 Date of orders: 24 January 2020 Decision date: 24 January 2020 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: Emeritus Prof GD Walker, Senior Member Decision: Decision under review affirmed. Catchwords: LICENSING – tow truck drivers – certificate application rejected – suspensions within 3 years. Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (NSW) Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW) Tow Truck Industry Act 1998 (NSW) Tow Truck Industry Regulation 2008 (NSW) Cases Cited: Drake v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1979) 2 ALD 60; Eskander v Department of Fair Trading [2019] NSWCATOD 49; Moujalli v Roads and Maritime Services [2014] NSWCATOD 63. Texts Cited: DC Pearce, Statutory Interpretation in Australia, 9th edn, Lexis Nexis Butterworths 2019, pp 38 – 39. Category: Principal judgment Parties: Corey C Tubie (Applicant) New South Wales Commissioner of Fair Trading (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Applicant (Self Represented) Smythe Wozniak Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 2019/00320754 Publication restriction: Nil

Reasons for decision 1. The applicant Mr Corey C Tubie applied to this tribunal on 11 October 2019 for review of a decision made on 12 August 2019 by a delegate of the respondent to refuse his application for a tow truck driver certificate under the Tow Truck Industry Act 1998 (TTI Act). 2. He had applied for the certificate on 17 May 2019, an earlier application having been rejected for incompleteness on 3 May 2019. The later application was refused on 19 June 2019, and the applicant applied for an internal review of that decision on 2 July 2019. The reviewing officer affirmed the decision on 12 August 2019. 3. The ground for the decision was that the applicant's driver licence had been suspended on more than one occasion during the period of 3 years immediately preceding the application for the tow truck driver certificate. In those circumstances refusal was mandatory. 4. A tribunal directions hearing was held on 19 November 2019 at which the applicant was directed to file witness statements and other materials by 13 December 2019. He did not attend, or participate in, the directions hearing and did not file any material. The matter was set down for hearing on 16 January 2020, and the applicant indicated that he would participate by telephone. On that date he did not appear and could not be contacted despite several attempts to reach him by telephone. The matter thus proceeded ex parte.