Page 2679 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 2013
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Provision for witness expenses were moved when the Court Procedures Act 2004 was passed and are no longer contained in the Magistrates Court Act. Witness expenses are now provided for under the Court Procedures Rules 2006. This will be reflected in an amended section 98, which will provide that a coroner may allow a witness expenses in accordance with schedule 4 of the Court Procedures Rules.
Section 57 of the Coroners Act provides for coroners’ reports to the Attorney-General after an inquest or inquiry. Under the current provision, a copy of the coroner’s report must be provided to the Attorney-General. Coroners’ reports frequently raise an issue that may be of relevance to other portfolios—for example, matters of public safety where responsibility lies with the Minister for Health or the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services.
It would be more efficient for the coroner to directly provide a copy of the report to the minister responsible for these matters of public safety raised in the report in addition to the Attorney-General. The bill therefore inserts a new section to provide that copies of the coroner’s report must be provided to the responsible minister as well as the Attorney-General.
This ensures that there is a formal notification of all ministers with responsibility for the matters raised in the report and that they have adequate time to consider the issues and respond appropriately. To support this change, the bill will also amend section 57(4)(b) to recognise that in most circumstances the response to the coroner’s report should be tabled by the Attorney-General and responsible ministers without reference to cabinet, given that responses rarely propose new policy or involve a budget impost.
Section 57 will also be amended to make provision for where the Attorney-General believes that it will not be reasonably practicable to table the coroner’s report and response within six months, as currently required under section 57(4). This may happen, for instance, where there is no sitting period between the time that the report is finalised and the expiration of the six-month period.
The amendment will clarify that in such cases, the Attorney-General must give the report and the response to the Speaker before the end of the six-month period. The Speaker will then present the report and response to the Assembly on the next available sitting day. This process resembles that allowed for annual reports, and is already employed by the Speaker or other representatives in similar cases where timing for the tabling of reports does not coincide with a sitting day.
This range of amendments to section 57 will improve operational aspects of the provision of coroners’ reports to the Attorney-General and responsible ministers and the tabling of coroners’ reports and responses in this place. To address an administrative burden on the Magistrates Court, this bill will make an amendment to section 316(6) of the Magistrates Court Act 1930, which provides for records of proceedings.
Currently under section 316(6), sound recordings of certain proceedings must not be erased unless a transcript of the record of that part of the proceeding has been
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