An Act to provide for the appointment of the Solicitor General and the exercise and discharge by the Solicitor General of certain powers, authorities, duties and functions incident to the office of the Attorney General; and for purposes connected therewith.
1 Name of Act and definition
(1) This Act may be cited as the Solicitor General Act 1969.(2) In this Act except in so far as the context or subject matter otherwise indicates or requires:Solicitor General includes the deputy appointed to act for the Solicitor General during the Solicitor General’s illness or absence.
2 Appointment of Solicitor General
(1) The Governor may appoint as Solicitor General a legal practitioner 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Governor may appoint a deputy to act for the Solicitor General during the Solicitor General’s illness or absence.(2) (Repealed)(3) A Solicitor General is entitled to be paid:(a) remuneration in accordance with the Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Act 1975, and(b) such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.(5) A Solicitor General shall be deemed to have vacated office:(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Act 1958,(d) if the Solicitor General resigns office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Governor, or(e) (Repealed)(f) if the Solicitor General engages (whether in New South Wales or elsewhere) during his or her term of office in any paid employment or in any remunerated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.s 2: Am 1976 No 4, Sch 5; 1987 No 48, Sch 30; 1990 No 44, sec 3; 1990 No 99, Sch 4; 1993 No 87, Sch 5.
3 Powers, authorities etc of Solicitor General
(1) The Solicitor General may:(a) act as Counsel for Her Majesty and may perform such other duties and functions of Counsel as the Attorney General directs,(b) when the office of Attorney General is vacant, or the Attorney General is absent from the State or is by reason of illness unable to exercise and discharge his or her powers, authorities, duties and functions, exercise and discharge any powers, authorities, duties and functions conferred or imposed on the Attorney General by or under any Act or incident by law to the office of the Attorney General.(2) The provisions of subsection (1) shall have effect notwithstanding any delegation made under section 4 in respect of any power, authority, duty or function referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and any such delegation and any terms of such delegation shall have no operation or effect during any period the Solicitor General may exercise or discharge such power, authority, duty or function pursuant to the said paragraph (b).
4 Delegation of powers
(1) The Attorney General may, by instrument in writing, delegate to the Solicitor General the exercise or discharge of such of the powers (other than this power of delegation), authorities, duties and functions which may be exercised or discharged by the Attorney General as may be specified in the instrument of delegation and may in like manner revoke wholly or in part any such delegation.(2) Any power, authority, duty or function, the exercise or discharge of which has been delegated under this section may, subject to subsection (2) of section 3 and while the delegation remains unrevoked, be exercised or discharged from time to time in accordance with the terms of the delegation by the Solicitor General.(3) A delegation made under this section may be made subject to such conditions or such limitations as to the exercise or discharge of any of the specified powers, authorities, duties or functions delegated or as to time or circumstances as may be specified in the instrument of delegation.(4) Notwithstanding any delegation made under this section the Attorney General may continue to exercise or discharge all or any of the powers, authorities, duties or functions delegated.
5 Exercise of powers, authorities etc under sections 3 and 4
(1) Any act or thing done or suffered by the Solicitor General pursuant to section 3, or when acting in the exercise of a delegation under section 4 and within the terms of the delegation, shall have the like force and effect as if the act or thing had been done or suffered by the Attorney General.(2) Where any power, authority, duty or function is performed or discharged by the Solicitor General pursuant to section 3, or pursuant to a delegation under section 4, and its exercise or discharge depends upon the opinion, belief or state of mind of the Attorney General, that power, authority, duty or function may be exercised or discharged by the Solicitor General upon the opinion, belief or state of mind of the Solicitor General.(3) No person shall be concerned to see or inquire whether any act, matter or thing done or performed by the Solicitor General when purporting to act in pursuance of section 3, or in pursuance of a delegation under section 4, is or is not authorised by that section or by that delegation, as the case may be.(4) The provisions of section 3 are supplemental to and not in derogation of any other law relating to the exercise or discharge by the Solicitor General of any of the powers, authorities, duties and functions of the Attorney General, or incident to the office of the Attorney General.
6 Pension of Solicitor General
(1) Subject to this section, the Judges’ Pensions Act 1953 applies to and in respect of a person who holds or held the office of Solicitor General in the same way as it applies to and in respect of a judge or a retired or deceased judge.(2) For the purposes of subsection (1):(a) a reference in the Judges’ Pensions Act 1953 (section 2 (1) excepted) to a judge includes a reference to a person holding the office of Solicitor General,(b) a reference in that Act to a judicial office includes a reference to the office of Solicitor General,(c) a reference in that Act to the retirement of a judge includes a reference to the vacation of office of the Solicitor General,(d) a reference in section 3 of that Act to a retired judge to whom that section applies includes a reference to a person who held the office of Solicitor General and who vacated office pursuant to section 2 (5) (e) of this Act, after serving as Solicitor General for not less than 5 years,(e) a reference in section 5 of that Act to a retired judge to whom that section applies includes a reference to a person who held the office of Solicitor General and who vacated office pursuant to section 2 (5) (c) of this Act or, where that vacation from office was certified by the Health Commission of New South Wales to have been due to permanent disability or infirmity, pursuant to section 2 (5) (d) of this Act,(f) a reference in that Act (sections 2 (1), 3 and 5 excepted) to a retired judge includes a reference to a person who held office as Solicitor General and who vacated office as referred to in paragraph (d) or (e) of this subsection or as referred to in section 4 of that Act, and(g) section 4 of that Act shall be deemed to be omitted and the following section inserted in its stead:4Where the Solicitor General vacates office pursuant to section 2 (5) (d) of the Solicitor General Act 1969, after attaining the age of 60 years and holding the office of Solicitor General for not less than 10 years, the Solicitor General shall on so vacating office be entitled to an annual pension in all respects as if the Solicitor General had attained the age of 70 years and had vacated office pursuant to section 2 (5) (e) of that Act.(3) Where a person who holds or held the office of Solicitor General becomes a judge within the meaning of the Judges’ Pensions Act 1953:(a) any period served by that person in the office of Solicitor General shall, for the purposes of that Act, be computed as portion of his or her service as a judge in the judicial office which he or she held immediately before his or her retirement as a judge or his or her death before retirement, as the case may be, and(b) the right to any pension which that person is receiving, or is entitled to receive, under that Act as applied by this section shall cease.(4) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply to or in respect of:(a) a person appointed as Solicitor General before the date of assent to the Solicitor General (Amendment) Act 1979,(b) a person who elects, pursuant to section 3 (4B) of the Superannuation Act 1916, to continue to contribute to the State Superannuation Fund, or(c) a deputy appointed to act for the Solicitor General during the Solicitor General’s illness or absence.s 6: Ins 1979 No 57, sec 2.