(1) If the Minister
receives a report from an Inquiry Panel under section 8.22(3), the Minister is
to give a copy of the report to —
(a) the
local government concerned; and
(b) if
the council of the local government is suspended — each council member;
and
(c) if a
council member is suspended — that member.
(2) After subsection
(1) has been complied with, the Minister is to make the report of an Inquiry
Panel available to the public in any manner that the Minister thinks fit.
(3) Despite
subsections (1) and (2), the Minister may withhold a report, or its contents,
to the extent that the Inquiry Panel has indicated that it considers that
making it available might prejudice a matter that is likely to come before a
court of law or to be the subject of an allegation to the State Administrative
Tribunal.
(4) Within 35 days
after receiving the report or such longer period as the Minister allows, the
local government is to give the Minister written advice setting out —
(a) the
things that it has done or proposes to do to give effect to the
recommendations in the report; or
(b) if
the report recommends that the council be dismissed, its comments on that
recommendation.
(5) A council member
who is suspended, or who is a member of a council that is suspended, may,
within 35 days after receiving the report or such longer period as the
Minister allows, give the Minister written advice setting out the
member’s comments on the recommendations in the report.
[Section 8.23 amended: No. 64 of 1998 s. 47; No.
31 of 2018 s. 18.]