Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The question is: can it be contested in circumstances where it is prescribed in legislation that the minister has the power to dismiss if the minister is of the mind that the CEO’s performance has been unsatisfactory? Unsatisfactory is not defined and therefore, potentially, it could be a capricious minister’s view as to what unsatisfactory could mean—and I think there used to be an example during the Work Choices debate about people chewing gum at work or the colour of the tie the person might be wearing et cetera. I just want to know what the protections are for the CEO from a minister just determining one day that they think that the CEO’s performance is unsatisfactory. What protections are there? Given that, clearly, the unfair dismissal laws, as they will be amended under Forward with Fairness, will not be providing any protection and given that the legislation specifically empowers the minister to dismiss on this quite rubbery ground of unsatisfactory performance, I would like to know what guarantees there would be for the CEO if this clause were to remain in the legislation.