The Court dismissed both an application for leave to appeal a VCAT decision and a judicial review application concerning refusal of a firearms licence under s 17 of the Firearms Act 1996 (Vic). The Court held that VCAT's finding that the applicant lacked self-control was a permissible character assessment (not a medical diagnosis) open on the evidence of the applicant's menacing email and subsequent aggressive correspondence, and that no expert evidence was required to support such a finding. On materiality, the Court held that even if any error were established, the outcome would inevitably have been the same given the 2018 email, the conviction, the applicant's lack of insight, and his ongoing aggressive communications. On the ALA review, the Court found that while two of the CCP's grounds for refusal (reliance on alleged s 140A breach and mental health concerns unsupported by the CCP's own evidence) were erroneous, those errors were immaterial to the decision given the remaining valid bases for refusal.
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