59   Employment of staff

(1)  The Chief Investigator may appoint such staff as the Chief Investigator requires to exercise the Chief Investigator’s functions.

(2)  Those members of staff are taken to be employed by the Government of New South Wales in the service of the Crown, except as provided by subsection (3).

(3)  The Chief Investigator is, for the purposes of any proceedings relating to those members of staff held before a competent tribunal having jurisdiction to deal with industrial matters, taken to be the employer of the staff.

(4)  The Chief Investigator may enter into an agreement with any association or organisation representing a group or class of those members of staff with respect to industrial matters.

(5)  Any such agreement binds all persons in the class or group affected by the agreement, and no such person (whether a member of the association or organisation with which the agreement was entered into or not) has any right of appeal against the terms of the agreement.

(6)  An agreement under this section is not an enterprise agreement within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1996. However, the Chief Investigator may enter into such an enterprise agreement as the employer of the members of staff concerned.