Commonwealth Numbered Acts

AUSTRALIAN LAW REFORM COMMISSION ACT 1996 No. 37, 1996 - SECT 12

(1) The Deputy President is to act as President:

   (a)  during a vacancy in the office of President, whether or not an
        appointment has previously been made to the office; and

   (b)  during all periods when the President is absent from duty or from
        Australia or is, for any other reason, unable to perform the functions
        of the office.

(2) The Deputy President must not continue to act for longer than 12 months
during a vacancy in the office of President.

(3) While the Deputy President is acting as President:

   (a)  the Deputy President has, and may exercise, all the President's
        powers, and must perform all the President's functions and duties; and

   (b)  this Act, and all other relevant Acts, apply to the Deputy President
        as if he or she were the President.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), while the Deputy President is acting as
President, he or she must be paid, in addition to the remuneration and
allowances payable to the Deputy President:

   (a)  an amount equal to the difference between the remuneration payable to
        the Deputy President and the remuneration payable to the President;
        and

   (b)  an amount equal to the difference between any allowance payable to the
        Deputy President and the corresponding allowance payable to the
        President; and

   (c)  if an allowance is payable to the President, but no corresponding
        allowance is payable to the Deputy President-the allowance payable to
        the President.

(5) Paragraph (4)(a) does not apply if the Deputy President is the holder of a
judicial office or a judge of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory.

(6) Anything done by the Deputy President when purporting to act as President
is not invalid merely because the occasion for the Deputy President to act had
not arisen or had stopped.