Local Government Act 1993

The initial assessor for a code of conduct complaint, on an initial assessment, may refer the code of conduct complaint, or part of it, to any person or other authority that the initial assessor considers appropriate if the initial assessor reasonably considers that – the complaint discloses that an offence may have been committed; or the complaint would be more appropriately dealt with by that other person or authority.

The person or other authority to which the code of conduct complaint is referred – may accept the referral or refuse to accept the referral; and is to notify the initial assessor for the code of conduct complaint of that acceptance or refusal within 28 days after receiving the referral.

If the person or other authority to whom the code of conduct complaint is referred fails to notify initial assessor for the code of conduct complaint as required by subsection (2), the person or authority is taken to have accepted the referral of the code of conduct complaint.

If the person or other authority to whom the code of conduct complaint is referred accepts the referral, the code of conduct complaint ceases to be a code of conduct complaint.

If the person or other authority to which the code of conduct complaint is referred refuses to accept the referral, the initial assessor for the code of conduct complaint is to do a further initial assessment under section 28ZA within 21 days after being notified of that refusal.

On doing a further initial assessment under section 28ZA as required by subsection (5) – the initial assessor is to comply with section 28ZA as if doing a first initial assessment; and if the initial assessor determined on the original initial assessment to investigate a part of the code of conduct complaint and had notified the councillor against whom the complaint was made of that determination, the initial assessor is to notify the councillor of the result of the further initial assessment in addition to any other notice the initial assessor is required to provide under section 28ZA.