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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2339 ..

CORONERS BILL 1997

The Coroners Act 1956 provides for inquests into the manner and cause of sudden, violent or unexplained deaths and for inquiries into fires which cause damage to, or the destruction of, property in the Territory.

The Coroners Bill 1997 is the outcome of 2 exercises: consultation on the Exposure Draft Coroners Bill 1995 which proposed particular amendments to the Coroners Act; and a review of the Act as part of the Government's review of all pre-1980 Acts.

The Exposure Draft Bill proposed that the Coroners Act be amended to provide for consideration to be given to cultural attitudes and spiritual beliefs about death and for access to the coronial process for the family of a deceased whose death was the subject of an inquest.

The Exposure Draft Bill also proposed that the jurisdiction be extended to allow a Coroner to inquire into a disaster, and for a Coroner to be given power to make interim findings and to appoint an investigator in an inquest or inquiry.

The Bill will require a Coroner to give consideration to the feelings of the family of a deceased when deciding whether or not to order a post-mortem examination or the exhumation of a body. It will also require a Coroner to have regard to whether the family of a deceased has been informed of the holding of a hearing for the purposes of an inquest.

The Bill provides that a member of the immediate family of the deceased may apply to the Coroner holding an inquest for an order that a post-mortem examination should be dispensed with. A member of the immediate family of the deceased also will be able to apply to the Coroner holding an inquest for authorisation to view the body or the scene of the death, to be present at the post-mortem examination, or to have a further post-mortem examination done.

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