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Media
Release
Media Release
On the 3.April 2001, an application was filed at the Federal Court, Brisbane seeking orders that the respondents the Commonwealth of Australia and State of Queensland pay to the applicant Omeo Way Pty Ltd. (trading as Owen Guns) the sum of eight million two hundred and forty eight thousand three hundred and sixty one dollars and nine cents ($ 8,248,361.09) for goods they received in the Buy Back Project and refused to pay for. It has taken three and
half years to investigate and prepare the 2000 pages of evidence, substantial
amounts of it compiled from the Buy Back Projects own computer records. The
Government has initiated countless harassing obstructions to bar this action
from coming before the court, one of them to point. The day after first briefing
with Sydney barristers on Statement of Claim, Police issued fallacious ‘Trumped
Up' charges obviously designed to discredit and impede the ability of ‘Owen
Guns' to proceed with its case.
The applicants claim is made on various
grounds one being "compensation on just terms" in accordance with Section
51(xxxi) of the Constitution of Australia pursuant to the provisions of the
National Firearms Program Implementation Scheme 1996 (Cwth) which constituted an
acquisition by the first respondent of the applicant's property within the terms
of S 51 (xxxi) of the Constitution of Australia.
Others being, "breach of their duty of care and in breach of their fiduciary duty" and also "in breach of their contract". The first and second respondent, by themselves, their servants and agents, including DAS, the members of the Compensation Program Valuation Committee, Robert Carson, Ian Lewis and the Firearms Compensation Project of the Queensland Police Service between 16 July 1996 and 15 December 1997: (a) failed to pay the
Applicant the Applicant's published selling price as at 1st March 1996 for the
surrendered firearms and component parts;
(b) failed to compensate the Applicant without delay; (c) failed to compensate for spare parts for prohibited firearms surrendered by the Applicant; (d) failed to compensate the Applicant for any loss of business caused by the prohibition for certain firearms; (e) failed to compensate the Applicant for any loss of business to the loss which was attributable to resolutions of the Australian Police Minister's council about National Firearms Control; (f) failed to pay the Applicant the amounts advised by the panel; (g) paid others: (i) a significantly
greater price for certain items than the amount offered to the Applicant for the
same item;
(ii) for greater quantities of certain items surrendered than the quantity endeavoured to be surrendered by the Applicant; and (iii) for items when the same item endeavoured to be surrendered by the Applicant was rejected; (h) failed to oversee the
panel to ensure the panel did not discriminate against the
Applicant;
(i) failed to oversee its staff to ensure its staff did not discriminate against the Applicant; (j) failed to have an accurate system of recording acquisitions, quantities and prices of firearms and component parts; (k) appointed persons or purported to appoint persons to the panel who lacked sufficient expertise, experience and knowledge of the business, particularly the business of dealing in parts for firearms; and (l) appointed persons to the panel who were and had been for sometime commercial rivals of the applicant. (m) failed to maintain any or any adequate supervision of the guns buy-back scheme in Queensland so as to ensure that it was conducted fairly and that proper compensation was paid to dealers such as the applicant for goods surrendered under the said scheme. (n) rejecting the goods surrendered by the applicant in the first surrender and, thereafter refusing until 3 March 1997 to accept the surrender of any significant quantities of firearms parts from the applicant with the result that the applicant still held large quantities of stock as at 16 June 1997 when the second respondent, by its servant, the Commissioner for Police purported to issue further guidelines governing the surrender of firearms and firearms parts. Alternatively, in determining the sums payable to the applicant for firearms and firearms parts surrendered by the applicant the respondents and each of them, by their servants and agents, failed to pay or provide to the applicant compensation on just terms in accordance with S 51(xxxi) of the Constitution in that: (a) the respondents failed
to pay to the applicant the value of firearm parts surrendered in line with the
published selling price as at 1 March 1996 for such parts;
(b) in some instances, the
second respondent, by its servants or agents, valued the sum payable by way of
compensation for parts surrendered by the applicant at a price
(including a nil value in many instances) less than the figure
allowed by of compensation to other dealers for the same items;
(c) in some instances, the
second respondent paid to the applicant sums less than the valuation figures
determined by its own valuation panel;
(d) refusing to pay to the
applicant the sum assessed as payable in respect of the fifteenth and final
surrender, as particularised above, unless the applicant agreed to accept that
sum in full settlement of all claims for compensation it might
have;
Further, between about December 1996 and December 1997 the respondents, by their servants or agents, including DAS, Robert McLellan, Robert Carson and Ian Lewis conspired amongst themselves and with other persons to injure the applicant, in particular by: (a) in the period between 8
January 1997 and 11 March 1997 purporting to reject the firearms and firearm
parts surrendered by the applicant in the first surrender as ;
(b) valuing firearms and
firearms parts surrendered by the applicant at figures significantly less than
the sums paid to other dealers for identical or similar firearms and firearm
parts;
(c) other acts and omissions
detrimental to the applicant full particulars of which will be given following
the issue and return of subpoenas and the granting of discovery.
For Further Information Phone 07 54824099 during
business hours
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