In a highly unusual step, Local Government Minister Richard Wynne has ordered his officers to get to the bottom of the bickering and backbiting plaguing the council.

Casey's chief executive officer Mike Tyler has gone into lockdown, advising the Journal via the council's media department that he would not make any comment before speaking to the visiting team.

A spokesman for Mr Wynne said that if the officers uncovered breaches of the Local Government Act, the penalties could range from sanctions and fines to the sacking of the entire council.

However, he said the minister preferred councillors - and administrators - to be able to sort out their grievances and move ahead as a team.

"The ultimate endgame we are looking for is a functioning council that doesn't generate these kind of complaints about the way they operate.''

The move follows a spate of bad publicity for Casey Council, including calls by Cr Paul Richardson for assault charges to be laid against fellow councillor Colin Butler over an alleged fingerpoking incident in the council chamber.

Cr Richardson, in turn, is the subject of a council sub-committee probe into whether he made offensive comments about two female councillors.

Both deny any wrongdoing.

At last Tuesday's council meeting, mayor Janet Halsall informed that members of the community "have expressed concern and distress at the amount of sledging going on''. She warned councillors she would rule them out of order if they engaged in distracting and somewhat defamatory comments which had led to complaints.

The meeting concluded with a further push by Cr Richardson for all councillors to attend a compulsory workshop on appropriate behaviour in the chamber.