Australia, June 30 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on May 30:

1. The applicant Mr David Nassif on 24 August 2023 applied to this tribunal for administrative review of a decision of the respondent on 13 July 2023 to revoke his class 1A 2B security licence pursuant to s 26 of the Security Industry Act 1997 (SI Act) on the ground that the Commissioner was not satisfied that he is a fit and proper person to hold that class of licence, and that it would be contrary to the public interest if he were to continue to hold it. He had held various security licenses since around June 2001.

2. The decision was based on issues identified in an investigation of AVS Services Aust Pty Ltd and the applicant's dealings with the Security Licensing and Enforcement Directorate (SLED). The applicant had worked with AVS from around 2002 when he was aged 25, until at least August 2023. From approximately 15 April 2019 to 14 August 2023 he was the nominated person for AVS's master licence and therefore the person who was authorized to represent AVS for the purpose of answering questions under s 39O of the Act.

3. In view of certain proceedings then pending in the Local Court relating to AVS's compliance with a notice under s 39O of the Security Industry Act, Ransome SM on 30 August 2023 stayed the revocation decision pending further order of the tribunal.

4. The review application came on for hearing in the tribunal on 14 February 2025 and was adjourned part heard until 19 May 2025.

Applicable legislation

5. The tribunal has held that the objects of the Security Industry Act include ensuring that "those who are licensed under the Act can be trusted by the public to properly perform the duties of watching, guarding or protecting property, act as a bodyguard or carry out crowd control functions in a professional manner": Scott v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Force [2022] NSWCATOD 154, [92].

6. Consistently with those objectives, s 26 of the Act relevantly provides

26 Revocation of licence

(1) A licence may be revoked-

(a) (Repealed)

(b) if the licensee-

(ii) contravenes any provision of this Act or the regulations, whether or not the licensee has been convicted of an offence for the contravention, or

(iii) contravenes any condition of the licence, or

(c) (Repealed)

(d) for any other reason prescribed by the regulations.

(1A) The Commissioner must revoke a licence where the Commissioner is satisfied that, if the licensee were applying for a new licence, the application would be required by this Act to be refused.

7. In relation to s 26(1A), s 15 relevantly provides:

15 Restrictions on granting licence-general suitability criteria

(1) The Commissioner must refuse to grant an application for a licence if-

....

(c) the applicant has supplied information-

(i) in, or in connection with, the application, and

(ii) that is, to the applicant's knowledge, false or misleading in a material particular, or

....

(f) the Commissioner is not satisfied that the applicant-

(i) is a fit and proper person to hold the class of licence sought by the applicant, or

....

(6) For the purpose of determining whether an applicant is a fit and proper person to hold the class of licence sought by the applicant or whether the grant of the licence would be contrary to the public interest, the Commissioner may have regard to any criminal intelligence report or other criminal information held in relation to the applicant that-

(a) is relevant to the activities carried out under the class of licence sought by the applicant, or

(b) causes the Commissioner to conclude that improper conduct is likely to occur if the applicant were granted the licence, or

(c) causes the Commissioner not to have confidence that improper conduct will not occur if the applicant were granted the licence.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197152df8596397d0f2fbe82)

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