Environment Act 1986

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment - Administrative provisions

7: Removal or suspension from office

You could also call this:

"When the Commissioner can be removed or suspended from their job"

The Commissioner can be removed or suspended from their job by the Governor-General. This can happen if the Commissioner cannot do their job, goes bankrupt, does not do their duty, or behaves badly. You can find more information about this in the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001. The Governor-General can suspend the Commissioner at any time when Parliament is not meeting. This can happen for the same reasons as before, and the Governor-General must be satisfied that it is necessary. The Commissioner will still get paid even if they are suspended. The suspension will end after a certain number of days when Parliament meets again. The Governor-General makes this decision with the help of other important people. You can learn more about how this works in the law.

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This page was last updated on 31 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM99729.

Topics:

Government and voting > Government departmentsRights and equality > Anti-discrimination

6: Term of office of Commissioner, or

"How long the Commissioner stays in the job"

8: Filling of vacancy, or

"What happens when the Commissioner's job becomes empty and how it gets filled again"

Part 1Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Administrative provisions

7Removal or suspension from office

Subject to subsection (2), the Commissioner may be removed or suspended from office only by the Governor-General, upon an address from the House of Representatives, for inability to perform the functions of the office, bankruptcy, neglect of duty, or misconduct.
At any time when Parliament is not in session, the Commissioner may be suspended from office by the Governor-General in Council for inability to perform the functions of the office, bankruptcy, neglect of duty, or misconduct proved to the satisfaction of the Governor-General in Council; but any such suspension shall not continue in force beyond the end of the 24th sitting day of the next ensuing session of Parliament, and the salary of the Commissioner shall continue to be paid notwithstanding the suspension.

Notes

Section 7(1): amended, on 1 January 2002, by section 70(1) of the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).
Section 7(2): amended, on 1 January 2002, by section 70(1) of the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).