Page 3281 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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LEGAL AFFAIRS - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on Coroners (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1993
Debate resumed from 16 June 1994, on motion by Mr Humphries:
That the report be noted.
MRS GRASSBY (10.37): Madam Speaker, the Coroners (Amendment) Bill is the major legislative component of the Government's response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It also follows a review of the 1956 Coroners Act, the first review of this Act since its enactment in 1956. The committee has recommended that the scope of Aboriginal-specific provisions be extended to the whole of the community. Whilst I fully support this, I nevertheless remain committed to supporting the key thrust of the Bill, which is to reduce Aboriginal deaths in custody. What every member in this Assembly should remain aware of is that Aboriginals have a far greater rate of imprisonment than the rest of the community. The ACT Labor Government is totally committed to reducing this. Until we can bring their imprisonment rates into line with the community as a whole, every Australian needs to be more sensitive in dealing with the issue of Aboriginal deaths in custody. Every democracy should be able to bear in mind the plight of sections of society who are disadvantaged in some way. The Labor Government wants to help in every way possible to maintain the dignity of our indigenous people.
In the Bill a very wide definition has been deliberately taken to include many different kinds of custody. This is because the right to a safe personal environment should be afforded to all Australians, irrespective of whether they are in custody or not. If there is some accident or mishap whilst someone is under the care of the Government there should be a full and proper investigation. The creation of the office of Chief Coroner of the ACT will allow full and independent investigations to take place. This office quite rightly will be afforded the powers which are needed to carry out such an important set of duties for the community. The powers of search and entry have been strengthened, and the capacity of the coroner to require a witness to be sworn has been included in the new Bill. Additionally, the Bill includes contempt of court provisions which will aid in the discovery of the truth. The committee has recommended that the power to require a police officer to be available to assist in an investigation be extended to all public servants. This recommendation is sound, but I think that we should be somewhat cautious about taking these matters out of the hands of the specialists, such as the police.
Madam Speaker, the committee has also quite validly recommended that the coroner be allowed to order the availability of any document or other evidence that is of sufficient relevance. This is a particularly important amendment, as the original wording of this Bill might not have included important forms of evidence. The committee has also sensibly recommended that the Government cooperate with national bodies, such as the Australian Institute of Criminology, in the collation of information relating to coronial proceedings for the purposes of analysis and comparison. I fully support this recommendation because when there is an identifiable problem, such as the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody, we need to be able to improve our levels of understanding of the issue. This is difficult without some central agency which is able to provide us with data and specialised suggestions. I strongly support this recommendation.
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