Benz v Queensland Building Services Authority

CITATION: Benz v Queensland Building Services Authority [2010] QCAT 625

PARTIES:	Mr Anthony Raymond Benz
v
Queensland Building Services Authority

APPLICATION NUMBER:   QR251-09     

MATTER TYPE: Occupational regulation matters

HEARING DATE:     2 December 2010

HEARD AT:  Brisbane

DECISION OF: Kate Buxton, Adjudicator

DELIVERED ON: 2 December 2010

DELIVERED AT:      Brisbane

ORDERS MADE:

[1]    The Decision of the Respondent made on 1 September 2009 is confirmed.

[2]    The Application for Review is dismissed.

CATCHWORDS : 

APPEARANCES and REPRESENTATION (if any):

APPLICANT:	Mr Anthony Raymond Benz did not attend.
RESPONDENT:	Queensland Building Services Authority represented by Brendan Cole

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. In this application Mr Benz, the Applicant, seeks to review the refusal by the QBSA to categorise him as a “permitted individual” under s.56AD of the Queensland Building Services Authority Act (the “QBSA Act”).

1. The consequence of that refusal is that Mr Benz is not presently entitled to hold the relevant BSA licence and, therefore, no longer able to perform the work of a licenced builder, which has provided Mr Benz with a livelihood for many years.

1. The statutory framework by which Mr Benz became an excluded individual, under the QBSA Act Part 3A, is set out in the QBSA’s Statement of Reasons for the Decision which was filed in these proceedings on 3 November 2009. That statement contains a useful summary of the provisions relevant to this application. Therefore rather than setting out those provisions in full in these reasons, I will refer to the text of the individual provisions only as necessary.

1. Section 56AC of the QBSA Act operated so that Mr Benz became an “excluded individual” when the company of which he was a director, Emerald Homes (Qld) Pty Ltd (the “Company”), had a liquidator appointed on 27 September 2007. That is the relevant “event” for the purpose of these provisions.

1. In order now to demonstrate that Mr Benz ought be categorized as a “permitted individual” he needs to have established, pursuant to s.56AD(8) of the QBSA Act, that he took “all reasonable steps to avoid the coming into existence of the circumstances that resulted in the happening of a relevant event” (here, the appointment of the liquidator).

1. Mr Benz did not appear at the hearing of this matter. I am satisfied based on the material in the file that he has been provided with a notice of hearing to the address for service nominated by him and that it is therefore appropriate to proceed in his absence.

1. I am prepared to determine this matter based on the material available at the hearing. In the absence of any oral evidence supplementing the statement of evidence which was filed in these proceedings on 18 January 2010 (with attachments), Mr Benz can be said, at best, to have demonstrated the following:

   a.The company ceased to trade on or about July 2005;

   b.Mr Benz cited, as reasons for the Company ceasing to trade, “marital separation and my subsequent illness (depression)” (undated statement filed 18 January 2010) and elsewhere “my illness and…