14Acting Commissioner and Acting Associate Commissioner

##### 14 Acting Commissioner and Acting Associate Commissioner (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 the office. (1A) A person may be appointed under paragraph (1)(a) to act in an office for an indefinite period. (2) An appointment of a person under subsection (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 subsection (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 subsection (2), that person may continue so to act until the Minister otherwise directs or the vacancy is filled, whichever first happens. (5) The appointment of a person under subsection (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 subsection (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 subsection (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.