Page 4383 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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There are a number of minor technical amendments in the bill to improve the operation of the tribunal.
Section 32 has been amended to clarify the extent of the power to dismiss an application as vexatious and frivolous to include applications that are an abuse of the court’s process. An abuse of process can lead to substantial unfairness in civil matters, as well as increased costs for litigants and unnecessary public expenditure.
An amendment to section 60(2) clarifies that an oral statement of reasons can constitute a written statement of reasons, as oral statements are often provided by the tribunal in small claims matters and residential tenancy hearings. Sections 61 and 62 have also been amended to clarify their meaning as they relate to publishing in the tribunal a statement of reasons.
The new provisions clarify the process for making and giving effect to tribunal orders.
Several amendments are proposed to the Coroners Act 1997 to improve coronial and autopsy practices and inquests into deaths. These changes to the Coroners Act will deliver important community benefits to ensure that deaths only undergo coronial investigation and full autopsy for good reason and then only to the extent that is strictly necessary to obtain the information that the coroner requires.
The proposed changes to the Coroners Act are consistent with legislative recommendations flowing from the final report of the recent review of ACT coronial and post-mortem process and practice, which was provided to the Chief Coroner and the Justice and Community Safety Directorate by Dr Charles Naylor, chief forensic pathologist from Queensland, in August this year. The review was commissioned by the courts and tribunal administration to improve current coronial and post-mortem processes and practices at the ACT Coroner’s Court and ACT Forensic Medicine Centre. The coronial review reveals that over 16 per cent of ACT registered deaths underwent coronial investigation in 2011, the second highest coronial death investigation rate in Australia. The two main factors for this high rating are the reporting requirements in section 13 relating to healthcare deaths and non-suspicious natural deaths being reported due to the lack of a cause of death certificate.
To ensure that deaths only undergo coronial investigation for good reason, the first amendment to section 13 will change the requirement for an inquest to be held into the death of a person that occurs after medical intervention, so that the trigger for an inquest is a death within 24 hours following the intervention, and not 72 hours as it is at present. The ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia, other than South Australia, that has a time limit requiring an inquest into deaths occurring within a stated time after a medical procedure. This amendment would bring the ACT into line with the 24-hour time limit currently in place in South Australia.
The second amendment would change the requirement for an inquest into the manner and cause of death of a person who dies without having seen a doctor within a certain period. I am proposing that the period of time for which the person has not seen a doctor be extended from three months to six months. This extension of time will
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