SCHEDULE 2 - Asbestos Compensa SCHEDULE 2 - Asbestos Compensation Commissioner

Section 153

1.   Terms of office

(1) The Commissioner may be appointed for a term of not more than 3 years that is specified in his or her instrument of appointment.

(2) A person who has been the Commissioner may be reappointed.

2.   Provisions requiring devotion to other duties

A provision, by or under any Act, that requires the holder of an office to devote the whole of his or her time to the duties of the office does not disqualify the person from holding that office and also the office of Commissioner.

3.   Remuneration

(1) Subject to subclause (2) , the Commissioner is entitled to be paid the remuneration (including travelling and subsistence allowances) that the Minister may from time to time determine.

(2) A Commissioner who is –

(a) a State Service officer or State Service employee; or

(b) otherwise holding, or acting in, an office –

(i) under the State Service Act 2000 ; or

(ii) in an Agency within the meaning of that Act –

is not entitled to remuneration under subclause (1) , except with the approval of the Minister administering that Act.

4.    State Service Act 2000 not to apply

(1) The State Service Act 2000 does not apply to, or in respect of, the appointment of the Commissioner.

(2) The Commissioner is not, in his or her capacity as the Commissioner, subject to the State Service Act 2000 during his or her term of office.

5.   Deputies

(1) The Minister may appoint any person to act in the office of the Commissioner while the Commissioner is absent from his or her office through illness or any other cause.

(2) Without limiting the generality of subclause (1) , the Commissioner is to be taken to be absent from his or her office for the purposes of that subclause if there is a vacancy in that office.

(3) A thing done or omitted to be done by a person while acting in the office of the Commissioner is as valid, and has the same consequence, as if it had been done or omitted to be done by the Commissioner, whether or not the occasion requiring or authorising the person to act in the Commissioner's place had arisen.

6.   Vacation of office

(1) The Commissioner is to be taken to have vacated his or her office –

(a) if the Commissioner dies; or

(b) if the Commissioner becomes bankrupt, applies to take the benefit of any law for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent debtors, compounds with his or her creditors, or makes an assignment of his or her remuneration or estate for their benefit; or

(c) if the Commissioner becomes unable to perform competently the duties of the office; or

(d) if the Commissioner is convicted in Tasmania of a crime or an offence which is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than 12 months, or if he or she is convicted outside Tasmania of an offence which, if committed in Tasmania, would be a crime or an offence so punishable; or

(e) if the Commissioner is convicted of an offence against this Act; or

(f) if the Commissioner resigns his or her office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Minister and the Minister accepts the resignation; or

(g) if the Commissioner is removed from office by the Minister under subclause (2) .

(2) The Minister may remove from office the Commissioner if the Minister is satisfied that the Commissioner is unable to perform adequately the duties of his or her office.

(3) The Commissioner may not be removed from office otherwise than in accordance with this clause.

7.   Validity of proceedings, &c.

(1) No act or proceeding of the Commissioner or any person acting under any direction of the Commissioner is invalidated or prejudiced by reason only of the fact that, at the time when the act or proceeding was done, taken or commenced, there was a vacancy in the office of the Commissioner.

(2) All acts and proceedings of the Commissioner or of any person acting under any direction of the Commissioner are, despite –

(a) the subsequent discovery of any defect in the appointment of the Commissioner; or

(b) that any person was disqualified from acting as, or incapable of being, the Commissioner –

as valid as if the Commissioner had been duly appointed and was qualified to act, or capable of being, the Commissioner.

(3) If the Commissioner, or any person acting under any direction of the Commissioner, does or purports to do, or omits or purports to omit to do, any act or thing in good faith for the purpose of administering or executing this Act, he or she is not personally subject to any action, liability, claim or demand in respect of that act or omission.

8.   Presumptions

In any proceedings by or against the Commissioner, unless evidence is given to the contrary, no proof is required of the appointment of the Commissioner.

9.   Commissioner to be taken to be worker

The Commissioner is to be taken to be a worker employed by the Crown for the purposes of this Act.