Commonwealth Numbered Acts

SNOWY MOUNTAINS HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER AMENDMENT ACT 1979 No. 156, 1979 - SECT 5

5. Section 14 of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section
substituted: Acting Commissioner and Acting Associate Commissioner
''14. (1) The Minister may appoint a person to act in the office of the
Commissioner or the office of an Associate Commissioner-

   (a)  during a vacancy in the office; or

   (b)  during any period, or during all periods, when the holder of the
        office is absent from duty or from Australia or is, for any other
        reason, unable to perform the duties of his office, but a person
        appointed to act during a vacancy shall not continue so to act for
        more than 12 months.

''(2) An appointment of a person under sub-section (1) may be expressed to
have effect only in such circumstances as are specified in the instrument of
appointment.

''(3) The Minister may-

   (a)  determine the terms and conditions of appointment, including
        remuneration and allowances, of a person acting in an office in
        accordance with sub-section (1); and

   (b)  terminate such an appointment at any time.

''(4) Where a person is acting in an office in accordance with paragraph (1)
(b) and that office becomes vacant while that person is so acting, then,
subject to sub-section (2), that person may continue so to act until the
Minister otherwise directs, the vacancy is filled or a period of 12 months
from the date on which the vacancy occurred expires, whichever first happens.

''(5) The appointment of a person under sub-section (1) ceases to have effect
if he resigns the appointment by writing signed by him and delivered to the
Minister.

''(6) While a person is acting in an office in accordance with sub-section
(1), he has and may exercise all the powers, and shall perform all the
functions, of that office.

''(7) The validity of anything done by a person purporting to act under
sub-section (1) shall not be called in question on the ground that the
occasion for his appointment had not arisen, that there is a defect or
irregularity in or in connection with his appointment, that the appointment
had ceased to have effect or that the occasion for him to act had not arisen
or had ceased.''.