Australia, Aug. 23 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 23:

1. Mr Wilson applied for a Category ABH firearms licence but on 25 September 2022 the Commissioner of Police decided to refuse him the licence.

2. Mr Wilson sought administrative review of that decision and it falls to the Tribunal to decide what is the correct and preferable decision.

Background

Early licence history, 2012 charge and 2013 revocation

3. Mr Wilson held a Category ABH firearms licence (licence) from 1998.

4. On 18 December 2012 the Commissioner of Police (Commissioner) suspended Mr Wilson's firearms licence when he was charged with 'possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit' in connection with the possession of six Glock pistol magazines with a capacity exceeding 10 rounds

(2012 charge).

5. On 20 June 2013 the Commissioner of Police (Commissioner) revoked Mr Wilson's firearms licence and this decision was later affirmed on internal review.

2014 licence application and Appeal Panel decision in 2015

6. Mr Wilson made a fresh application for a firearms licence in February 2014. The Commissioner refused the application and that decision was affirmed on internal review.

7. Mr Wilson made an administrative review application and the Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse Mr Wilson a firearms licence (refer to Wilson v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Force [2015] NSWCATAD 127). However, on appeal the Appeal Panel set aside the order below and made the decision that Mr Wilson be granted a Category ABH licence (refer to Wilson v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Force [2015] NSWCATAP 248) (2015 Appeal).

2021 licence renewal application and decision under review

8. The licence granted following the 2015 Appeal was due to expire and so on 25 March 2021 Mr Wilson made an application to renew his Category ABH firearms licence.

9. The Commissioner refused the application on 25 September 2022 on the basis of the following:

1) In 2013 Mr Wilson was found guilty in the Local Court of 'possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit' (2012 charge) in respect of six Glock magazines which exceeded the permitted capacity of 10 rounds, refer to [4] above.

2) In 2018 Mr Wilson and his son were in a car accident and Mr Wilson said he was the driver of the car. A witness told Police Mr Wilson was not the driver and he was charged with 'responsible person/custodian not disclose driver's details' and 'knowingly make false/misleading statement' (2018 Charges). At the time of the Commissioner's decision to refuse Mr Wilson's 2021 licence application these charges were yet to be dealt with in the Local Court.

3) In May 2022 Mr Wilson was charged with 'drive while licence cancelled' (2022 Charge) and that charge was also not yet determined in the Local Court as the time of the refusal of the 2021 licence application.

10. The Team Leader who made the decision to refuse the application said that Mr Wilson was a "dishonest person who knowingly disobeys licensing laws" and concluded that he was not a fit and proper person to be granted a firearms licence.

11. The Commissioner's 25 September 2022 decision to refuse Mr Wilson's application for a Category ABH firearms licence is the decision under review in this proceeding.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/198302fdcc6318e9f96a35f9)

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