Clunes v Queensland Police Service – Weapons Licensing [2023] QCAT 465

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CITATION: Clunes v Queensland Police Service – Weapons Licensing [2023] QCAT 465 PARTIES: LUKE CLUNES (applicant) V QUEENSLAND POLICE SERVICE – WEAPONS LICENSING (respondent) APPLICATION NO/S: GAR482-22 MATTER TYPE: General administrative review matters DELIVERED ON: 5 December 2023 HEARING DATE: 29 November 2023 HEARD AT: Brisbane DECISION OF: Member Cranwell ORDERS: The decision made by the Queensland Police Service – Weapons Licensing on 26 October 2022, to revoke Luke Clunes’ firearms licence, is confirmed. CATCHWORDS: FIRE, EXPLOSIVES AND FIREARMS – FIREARMS – LICENSING AND REGISTRATION – APPLICATION FOR LICENCE OR PERMIT – OTHER MATTERS – where applicant breached licence conditions – whether applicant’s firearms licence should be revoked Weapons Act 1990 (Qld), s 3, s 29, s 60 Weapons Regulation 2016 (Qld), s 93, s 94 APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION: Applicant: Self-represented Respondent: M Carey REASONS FOR DECISION Mr Clunes’s firearms licence was revoked by the Queensland Police Service (‘QPS’) on 26 October 2022. He has sought to have that decision reviewed by the Tribunal. -- 1 of 5 -- 2 Legislative framework Section 29 of the Weapons Act 1990 (Qld) (‘the Act’) gives an authorised officer the power to revoke a firearms licence. It relevantly provides: (1) An authorised officer may, by a revocation notice given to a licensee, revoke the licensee’s licence if the authorised officer is satisfied of any of the following things— … (c) the licensee has contravened a condition, participation condition or special condition of the licence; … Section 60(1) of the Act imposes the following condition on a firearms licence: A licensee who has control of a weapon at a place must keep the weapon in secure storage facilities at the place when a person is not in physical possession of the weapon. Maximum penalty—100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment. This condition is further particularised in the Weapons Regulation 2016 (Qld) (‘the Regulations’): 94 Storage of particular weapons not in person’s physical possession— secure storage facilities … (2) A person who possesses a weapon must, when the weapon is not in the person’s physical possession, store it unloaded in a locked container complying with subsections (5) and (6), with the weapon’s bolt removed or its action broken. … (5) For subsection (2), the container must— … (b) for any other weapon— (i) be a rigid structure made of solid steel or solid timber; and (ii) if the container weighs less than 150kg—be securely fixed to the frame or floor of a permanent building. (6) Also for subsection (2), the container must also— (a) have a sturdy combination lock, keyed lock or keyed padlock; and (b) always be locked (other than for the time necessary to insert or remove a weapon, or something else, for a proper purpose). History Mr Clunes was the holder of a category A and B firearms licence. -- 2 of 5 -- 3 According to the Queensland Police Service Court Brief, a search warrant was executed on Mr Clunes’ property on 4 April 2022. The following discoveries were noted: Charge 1: Authority required to possess explosives A search of the defendants (sic) garage located a number of boxes containing various amounts of fireworks and firecrackers. The fireworks consisted of both commercial and consumer grade. The defendant was asked if he possessed a licence or authority to possess fireworks, the defendant stated that he did not but someone he only knows as Tony from Vulcan Fireworks asked him to hold on to the leftover stock (fireworks, firecrackers) and store it for the next show. The defendant was under the impression he was able to store the explosives if he was doing it on behalf of someone he works for. The defendant further stated he last did a show for Vulcan Fireworks in January 2022, he gets paid only in cash and had no financial records of his employment in Vulcan Fireworks or any other fireworks company. The defendant was unable to provide a lawful or emergent reason for possessing explosives. Chare 2: Secure storage of weapons Prior checks on the defendant revealed that he was a current weapons licence holder and owned nine (9) guns. Police informed the defendant they would also need to check his bedroom and gun safe for explosives. The defendant stated his room is a mess and he was unable to locate his gun safe key. Whilst conducting a search of the defendants (sic) bedroom, police located the gun safe key at the foot of the gun safe in plain view. Police opened the safe and found three (3) guns inside the safe. Another seven (7) guns were located behind and around the bed and one in the lounge room. The house was occupied by another five (5) persons including one child who was in the lounge room at the time where one of the guns was located. The tenth gun that was located was only recently acquired by the defendant and he was able to provide police with the relevant documents to prove this. The defendant was explained that firearms needed to be correctly stored and secured in a gun safe as per legislative requirements. The defendant stated he was aware of this, but he was unable to find the key and had allegedly just removed the guns to clean. Police observed that some of the guns that were under and around the bed had layers of dust and cobwebs, as if they had been there for some time. The defendant was asked if he could attempt to secure the weapons in his safe, the defendant attempted to secure the guns in the safe but was unable to due to the amount of firearms in his possession and the insufficient size of the gun safe. The gun safe was also not adequately secured to the floor or of the correct weight to negate this. The defendant was unable to provide a lawful or emergent reason for failing to secure the firearms as per legislative requirements. -- 3 of 5 -- 4 Mr Clunes as found guilty of offences relating to the possession of explosives without authority and failing to securely store weapons on 3 June 2022. The latter offence is an offence under s 60(1) of the Act, as set out above. He was ordered to pay a fine of $1,800. No conviction was recorded. The material filed by the QPS also includes a report made on 1 February 2022 from an anonymous member of the public alleging that Mr Clunes was illegally selling fireworks. A report in similar terms had previously been made on 16 February 2019. These reports were most likely the catalyst for the search warrant executed on 4 April 2022. I note that Mr Clunes was not charged with selling fireworks, and I place no weight on these reports. Consideration Mr Clunes was found guilty of contravening a condition of his firearms licence for the purposes of s 29(1)(c) of the Act. Specifically, Mr Clunes failed to store his category A and B firearms in secure storage facilities. This gives an authorised officer, or the Tribunal standing in their place, a discretion to cancel Mr Clunes’ firearms licence. For completeness, having found a ground for revocation exists under s 29(1)(c), I note that it is unnecessary for me to consider the alternate grounds contained in s 29 of the Act. Exercise of discretion Mr Clunes filed a statement of evidence with the Tribunal on 4 September 2023. In relations to the offence under s 60(1) of the Act, Mr Clunes stated: (a) Around the time of this offence, I was saving for a larger gun safe to accommodated my weapons. The weapons that did not fit in my safe, were being stored in my friends (sic) (Rhys Bond) safe. He is also licenced; (b) As explained in the QP9, the weapons were out for cleaning. (c) I had been out shooting earlier that day with Rhys Bond. We had gone to Belmont Shooting Range. I took approximately 7 weapons with me to the range. Each of those weapons was in a lockable gun bag, suitable for transportation; (d) Upon arriving home I had the weapons out that I took to the range that day for cleaning. The Police refer to cobwebs being on them, however that should refer to cobwebs and dust on the gun bags that they were in. (e) All of the weapons that were out for cleaning were pulled apart and the bolt was not in. (f) I do however admit that the weapons were left unsecured for a short period of time while I was cleaning them. They were in lockable cases, however as I was home I understand because they were not in transit that I am guilty of the offence. I should have only had out the weapon I was actually cleaning (which was found in the loungeroom) and kept the others in the safe. (g) I acknowledge that my actions were reckless. (h) I have significantly learnt my lesson from this and have now completed a weapons safety course as a refresher about my obligations. -- 4 of 5 -- 5 Mr Clunes also provided a photograph of his new safe, which he states will accommodate all of his weapons. Mr Clunes also provided character references from Susan Curtain, Kerriann Winkley and Kristie Lee Loosemore. Each of these references is unsigned. Despite providing a number of character references, Mr Clunes did not provide a statement from Rhys Bond to corroborate his account that he had been shooting at Belmont Shooting Range earlier on the day that the search warrant was executed, or that he was storing some of his guns in Mr Bond’s safe. Nor did Mr Clunes provided any records from Belmont Shooting Range in relation to his claimed attendance. According to Mr Clunes’s oral evidence at the hearing, he had returned from Belmont Shooting Range with approximately seven guns. He placed these guns in individually locked bags in his bedroom, and then removed the guns one at a time for cleaning in the lounge room before returning them to the locked bags in his bedroom. I find it implausible that Mr Clunes would have stored guns ‘behind and around the bed’ (as located by the QPS) to await cleaning in the lounge room. Mr Clunes’ statement claims that the dust and cobwebs were on the gun bags, rather than the guns themselves. Nevertheless, I would have expected the dust and cobwebs on the gun bags to have been disturbed if Mr Clunes had handled the bags to remove the guns to take them to Belmont Shooting Range earlier in the day, and subsequently handled the bags again when he returned the guns. In my view, the most plausible explanation for the scene described by the QPS is that Mr Clunes stored some of his guns behind and around his bed was that his gun safe was not big enough to accommodate them. Mr Clunes did not provide an explanation was to why his gun safe was not secured to the floor as required by section 94(5)(b)(ii) of the Regulations. I also note that Mr Clunes is recorded as having told the QPS that he was unable to locate the key to his gun safe, but that the QPS were able to locate the key at the foot of the gun safe in plain sight. This was not a safe practice. I do, however, accept that Mr Clunes was correct in describing his actions as ‘reckless’. I accept that Mr Clunes will suffer some inconvenience in not being able to pursue his hobbies of sport shooting and recreational shooting on rural lands. However, the principles of the Act include a statement in s 3(1)(b), the principle that ‘public and individual safety is improved by imposing strict controls on the possession of weapons and requiring the safe and secure storage and carriage of weapons’. It is trite to state that firearms stored recklessly behind and around a bed give rise to a risk to public safety, particularly as a child resided in the house with him. Mr Clunes’ history regarding the storage of firearms, and the risk that this gives rise to, strongly outweighs any inconvenience to him. I will exercise the discretion to revoke Mr Clunes’s firearms licence. The decision under review is affirmed. -- 5 of 5 --