Page 210 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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Coroners Amendment Bill 2020
Mr Ramsay, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (10.18): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am very pleased to introduce the Coroners Amendment Bill 2020. This bill amends the Coroners Act 1997 so that it will better engage with the needs of families who find themselves within a coronial process. The amendments also make it easier for the Coroners Court to implement restorative approaches in its daily life. The death of a loved one can be a painful and a traumatic time, and this is especially so when the death occurs in circumstances when a coronial inquest or hearing is required. Clearly, it is essential that we discover, where we can, the cause of the death and address any matters which can prevent others occurring.
Importantly, people involved in coronial matters are often in grief, and we know that the way that we engage with people in grief can be as important as what is said and discussed. The key provisions of this bill come from a place of compassionate concern to embrace restorative practice. Fundamentally, they help to ensure that people affected by and interested in a coronial process are put in the centre of those processes.
The amendments also recognise that family members should be brought into the coronial process at the earliest opportunity and given better information which is both accessible and understandable. The objects clause will be amended to recognise expressly that, where appropriate, the immediate family of the deceased person should be given the earliest opportunity to participate in and be kept informed of the particulars and progress of the inquest into their loved one’s death. Similarly, it amends the act to recognise explicitly the significant impact of a death on the person’s family and friends. These changes put people, rather than dispassionate process, at the centre of the system.
In doing so these reforms also support many practices that the Coroner’s Court is already using. Significantly, the bill creates an error correction power for the Coroner’s Court to allow a coroner to amend findings to correct an error, mistake or omission. This change will have a profound impact on families by avoiding the costly and potentially retraumatising experiences of having to go through Supreme Court proceedings to ensure that the public reports about their loved one are accurate.
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