Now lawDemocracy & Government Introduced in the House of Representatives, 11 Feb 2026

Ministers can now sack four agency heads for misconduct

This law changes the job rules for the heads of four national agencies. They are Austrade, the trade agency, an overseas farm research body, the nuclear safety checks office and the office that writes national laws.

Official name: Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026

Who it affects

• The head of Austrade: Can be stood aside and held to a job standard set by the minister.
• The head of the overseas farm research centre: Faces a shorter longest term of 5 years and new rules on standing aside and sacking.
• The head of the nuclear safety checks office: Can be stood aside and removed for very bad behaviour or poor work.
• The top lawyers who write national laws: Face a 5-year longest term, new reasons for sacking and written orders from the minister.
• Staff in these agencies: The government says the changes help protect them from a boss who bullies or harasses them.

Four top jobs, outdated rules

Some government jobs are set up by a law. The people in them work with some freedom from ministers. Their law sets out how they are hired and fired.

This law covers four such jobs. One is the head of Austrade. That agency helps Australian businesses sell overseas. Another is the head of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. It pays for farm research in poorer countries.

The third is the head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office. It checks that nuclear material is not misused. The fourth covers the top lawyers at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. That office writes national laws.

The government says the old rules for these jobs were out of date. It wants them to match modern work rules. It also wants them to match the rules for most other jobs like these.

Suspending agency heads

The minister can now stand aside the heads of Austrade, the farm research centre and the nuclear checks office. The minister must believe this is good for the agency. Standing someone aside is called a suspension.

A suspension can last up to 3 months at first. It can be stretched to 12 months in all if someone is looking into the person. One example is a check by the Australian Public Service Commissioner. That official looks after the rules for government workers, called public servants. The check could be into whether the person broke the public service code of conduct. That code sets out how public servants must behave.

The person keeps getting paid while stood aside. The minister can put someone else in the job for a while.

Say staff complain that their boss is bullying them. The minister can stand the boss aside while the complaint is looked into.

New reasons to sack

The law adds new reasons for sacking these people. These include serious misconduct, which means very bad behaviour at work. They also include doing the job poorly.

Serious misconduct includes badly breaking the public service code of conduct. It includes unfair treatment that breaks the law, serious or repeated bullying or harassment, and corrupt behaviour.

For the law-writing office, there are more reasons. These include being found guilty of a serious crime, not being able to do the job and long absences. Doing other paid work without the minister's okay also counts. So does failing to say when their own interests clash with the job. Going broke still means they lose the job straight away.

The government says the usual rules about treating people fairly still apply before anyone is sacked.

Performance standards

Ministers can now set a written job standard for these people. They do not have to.

The standard sets a clear lowest level of work. If the minister thinks the person is falling short, it gives a measure to judge them by.

Parliament cannot vote to cancel these standards. They do not have to be made public. The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. It says this kind of power seems to be new.

Shorter terms

The longest single term for the head of the farm research centre drops from 7 years to 5 years. The same change applies to the First and Second Parliamentary Counsel. They are the top two lawyers who write national laws.

They can still be picked again. The heads of Austrade and the nuclear checks office already had 5-year longest terms.

Orders to the drafting office

The Attorney-General is the minister for law. They can now give the law-writing office written orders about how it does its work.

These orders must be general. The minister could tell the office to look at using technology to write laws faster. But the minister could not order it to use one product.

The orders do not have to be made public. They cannot cover the head's duties as a boss or under the rules on public spending.

Start date

The bill went to the House of Representatives on 11 February 2026. It passed the House on 4 March 2026. The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 24 March 2026.

The Governor-General, the King's representative, signed it into law on 26 March 2026. The first part started the next day. The changes to the law-writing office started about two weeks later.

The Senate voted not to send the bill to a group of senators for a closer look.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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