I'm thinking Dave should take the tests to get his ham license even if he never says a single word on the air or owns a single piece of gear.
If he were in the US, I'd agree wholeheartedly. We get our licenses for an exam fee of around $15.00, good for ten years, renewable free of charge every ten years. If you know enough electronics to pass the test (and Dave surely does), there's really no good reason NOT to have a license. I'd guess most EEs could pass the extra class exam with only a few days' study. There are a few things on the test that wouldn't be covered in a typical EE course of study, such as band plans, regulations, and such, but those aren't hard to learn quickly.
But Dave is in Australia. From my search on the web, it looks like they've got a $73.00 annual fee to maintain a license. That's still a bargain if you use it, and you'll probably spend much more than that on radio related expenses anyway if you're an active ham, but it's a bit of a discouragement for keeping the license if one "never says a single word on the air or owns a single piece of gear".
But I have a feeling that, if Dave got his license, he would own a piece of gear or two, and would make some good use of it, so yeah, he should go for it.