Ts v Department of Justice and Attorney General Industry Licensing Unit

In this case, Ts applied for a review of a decision by the Department of Justice and Attorney General Industry Licensing Unit, under the Tattoo Parlours Act 2013, to refuse a licence for a tattoo parlour. The dispute primarily centred on the characterisation of information relied upon by the Commissioner of Police in making an adverse security determination. The matter was brought before the tribunal for a general administrative review. The central issue before the court was whether the information relied on by the Commissioner of Police in making an adverse security determination was correctly categorised as a 'criminal intelligence report' or 'other criminal information' as mentioned in section 20(3) of the Tattoo Parlours Act 2013.

The court examined the definitions of 'criminal intelligence report' and 'other information', which had previously been determined by the tribunal. The tribunal adopted these definitions to assess the nature of the information in question. The court found that the information exhibited in the affidavit of Detective Superintendent Jon Harold Wacker, sworn on 26 May 2015, was correctly categorised as criminal intelligence reports or other criminal information under section 20(3) of the Act. The court's decision hinged on the interpretation and application of these statutory definitions to the facts presented in the case.

The tribunal concluded that the information provided met the criteria for being categorised as either a criminal intelligence report or other criminal information as outlined in the Act. Consequently, the tribunal ruled that the Department of Justice and Attorney General Industry Licensing Unit's decision to refuse the licence was based on correctly categorised information. The tribunal's decision was grounded in the established definitions of the relevant terms and the specific facts of the case. The tribunal's ruling was definitive, and the information in question was confirmed as s 20(3) material.