Page 3282 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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I conclude by commending the community groups which chose to come forward and assist us in this inquiry. It is always of great help to a committee when people are prepared to come forward. I would also like to voice my support for the committee's recommendation that this community consultation be continued. I also restate my personal determination and the Government's determination to tackle the problem of Aboriginal deaths in custody and afford all members of the community the rights and dignity that they deserve. I think the Attorney-General has taken all this into account, and I congratulate him. I would also like to thank the committee. We did have many secretaries, as I am sure the chairman of the committee has pointed out; but we managed to come down with this report. I would like to thank all those who worked on it. I would also like to thank my two committee colleagues, Helen Szuty and Gary Humphries.
MS SZUTY (10.42): I will be brief, Madam Speaker, because both Mr Humphries and Mrs Grassby have spoken extensively to this report. Members may be aware that on 18 June 1993, at a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee, I moved that the committee inquire into and report on, by 31 March 1994, the exposure draft of the Coroners (Amendment) Bill 1993 as tabled in the Assembly by the Attorney-General on 17 June 1993. Following the tabling of the Bill, on 16 December 1993 the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs appropriately shifted its inquiry to focus on the Bill as tabled.
It is important to note that there are two areas of focus of this Bill. There are those provisions which relate to the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and there are those provisions which relate to the updating of the Coroners Act of 1956, in general terms. It is unfortunate, Madam Speaker, that the committee has taken some time in addressing the Bill because of the importance of adopting the provisions which relate to Aboriginal deaths in custody in particular. However, the committee has effectively addressed, I believe, other more general issues in relation to the Bill. We made five recommendations and I am pleased to note that the Government has, in most part, supported all of them. I believe that they are sensible recommendations and I expect that they will get the support of this Assembly.
Madam Speaker, it would be remiss of me not to mention the extremely valuable work which has been done with the coroner's office and the Attorney-General's Department by the National Association for Loss and Grief, ACT Chapter. I concur with both Mr Humphries and Mrs Grassby that the committee is appreciative of the work that the National Association for Loss and Grief, ACT Chapter, has done. I commend them for the ongoing commitment that they have given to working with the coroner's office and the Attorney-General's Department in declaring regulations under the legislation, and their ongoing review of coronial processes in the ACT.
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