(1) The Governor may appoint as Solicitor General an Australian lawyer of at
least 7 years' standing.
In case of the illness or absence of the Solicitor General the Governor may
appoint a deputy to act for the Solicitor General during the
Solicitor General's illness or absence.
A person may be appointed to act for the Solicitor General (and may so act)
even if the person is of or above the age at which the Solicitor General would
vacate office.
(2) The Solicitor General is to be appointed by the Governor
for a term of 10 years or for such shorter term as may be necessary to ensure
that the person's term of office extends to (but not beyond) the date on which
the person reaches the age of 75 years. The Solicitor General is eligible (if
otherwise qualified) for reappointment.
(b) such travelling and subsistence
allowances as the Minister may from time to time determine in respect of the
Solicitor General.
(3A) The leave which may be granted to the
Solicitor General shall be as the Minister may from time to time determine in
respect of the Solicitor General.
(4) Any appointment pursuant to subsection
(1) may be on such terms and conditions as the Governor determines.
(a) if for any cause
which appears to the Governor sufficient the Solicitor General is removed from
office by the Governor,
(b) if the Solicitor General becomes bankrupt,
compounds with his or her creditors, or makes any assignment of his or her
remuneration or estate for their benefit,
(c) if the Solicitor General
becomes a mentally ill person, a protected person or an incapable person
within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1958 ,
(d) if the
Solicitor General resigns office by writing under his or her hand addressed to
the Governor, or
(f) if the Solicitor General engages (whether in New South Wales or
elsewhere) during his or her term of office in any paid employment or in any
remunerated practice of law outside the duties of his or her office.
(6) The
office of Solicitor General shall not be held by a Minister of the Crown.
(7)
The person holding the office of Solicitor General at the commencement of this
Act shall be deemed to have been appointed by the Governor under this Act, and
shall, subject to subsection (3) and notwithstanding subsections (4) and (5),
continue to hold that office on the terms and conditions on which the person
held it immediately before such commencement.
(8) Anything done or purporting
to have been done by the Solicitor General after the Solicitor General has
reached the age of 75 years is nevertheless as valid as if the
Solicitor General had not reached that age.
(10) The Attorney General may issue guidelines as to the process
for the selection of a person to be proposed for appointment (including
reappointment) as Solicitor General. The guidelines are not mandatory and a
failure to comply with them does not affect the validity of an appointment.
