Anthony John Hall loses QCAT application to get his drivers licence back

A man who has gone by multiple names has lost his bid to get his licence back after being dishonest and providing false details to the Department of Transport. Read how it unfolded here.

A man who has previously been convicted of making false declarations to the Department of Transport has lost his bid to get his licence back, after he applied to a tribunal that wasn’t permitted to hear the matter.

The plaintiff applied to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) in Gladstone on October 26, 2020 under the name ‘Anthony John Hall’, to dispute a decision by Transport and Main Roads to cancel his driver’s licence.

The tribunal heard that Hall was born in New Zealand in 1950 under the name ‘Colin Bruce Harvie’.

He changed his name by deed poll to ‘Anthony Bruce Hall’ on May 7, 1992.

TMR told the tribunal that the plaintiff, when he was legally known as ‘Harvie’, held a licence under the name ‘Hall’ in 1987, with a birthplace of Sydney, NSW and a birthday in 1951.

They also said the plaintiff, when he was legally known as ‘Hall’, also held a licence under the name ‘Harvie’ in 2007, with a birthplace of New Zealand and date in 1950.

This second licence expired in 2008 and TMR became aware of the discrepancies on July 3, 2019.

TMR used facial recognition technology to see if the photos on both licences were of the same person.

The tribunal heard that TMR couldn’t find New South Wales records for ‘Anthony Hall’ that matched the information on his licence.

But they found the New Zealand passport of ‘Colin Bruce Hall’ born in 1950, but on a different day and month.

Following this, TMR’s chief executive sent a notice to Hall to show case as to why his licence should not be cancelled.

Hall was convicted of four offences of making a false declaration on September 14, 2020, in relation to his licences.

The chief executive cancelled Hall’s licence on December 14, 2020.

Hall filed an application to TMR to reconsider the cancellation on October 17, 2020 and the tribunal heard it may have been resolved on or about January 25, 2021.

But during a hearing on January 7, 2022, TMR questioned whether QCAT had jurisdiction to deal with the matter.

QCAT member Michelle Lember said the tribunal could deal with the matter if it had the power under the QCAT Act or an enabling act like the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995.

But under the Transport Operations Act, an aggrieved cannot apply to QCAT for a cancellation decision made by the chief executive, but can apply to the tribunal to dispute a reconsideration by the Chief Executive.

“Until a reconsideration decision is made under section 132, there is no “reviewable decision” which comes within the tribunal’s review jurisdiction,” Ms Lember said.

Hall argued that the review was completed and the objections were no longer relevant, but he didn’t present any evidence to back that up.

Hall’s application was dismissed.