440J   How are requests and reports dealt with?

(1)  The Director-General may arrange for a departmental report to be prepared into the matters raised by or connected with a request or report referred to in section 440H.

(2)  The Director-General may authorise a member of the staff of the Department to conduct an investigation into any or all of those matters to assist in the preparation of the departmental report.

(3)  The preparation of a departmental report is a prerequisite to a decision by the Director-General to suspend the councillor from office, but is not necessary if the Independent Commission Against Corruption or the Ombudsman states in a report that the Commission or Ombudsman is satisfied that grounds exist that warrant the councillor’s suspension.

(4)  In this Division, departmental report means a report prepared by a person authorised by the Director-General to do so.