16Acting Chair

##### 16 Acting Chair (1) The Minister may appoint a Commissioner, other than a representative Commissioner, to act as Chair: (a) during a vacancy in the office of Chair; or (b) during any period, or during all periods, when the Chair is absent from duty or from Australia or, for any reason, is unable to perform the functions of his or her office; but a person appointed to act during a vacancy shall not continue so to act for more than 12 months. (2) The Minister may: (a) determine the terms and conditions of appointment, including remuneration and allowances, of a person acting as Chair; and (b) at any time terminate such an appointment. (3) Where a person is acting as Chair in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) and the office of Chair becomes vacant while that person is so acting, 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. (4) The appointment of a person to act as Chair ceases to have effect if he or she resigns the appointment by writing signed by him or her and delivered to the Minister, but the resignation does not have effect until it is accepted by the Minister. (5) While the appointment of a person to act as Chair remains in force, he or she has, and may exercise, all the powers and shall perform all the functions of the Chair. (6) The validity of anything done by a person acting as Chair shall not be called in question on the ground that the occasion for his or her appointment had not arisen or that the appointment had ceased to have effect.