Royal Adelaide Hospital Construction Site Incidents

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): My question is to the Attorney-General. Will the Attorney-General now direct the Coroner to immediately commence an inquest into the deaths of Mr Castillo-Riffo and Mr Steve Wyatt, which have been prevented from proceeding at this stage while the criminal cases were pending?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her question. I have always taken the view since I have been doing this job, as I think pretty well all of the predecessors I know of have taken the view, that it is not for me, or the Attorney-General, to generally go about telling the Coroner when, how and in what circumstances to intervene in a matter and conduct an inquiry. The Coroner has jurisdiction to deal with a great many circumstances and, as far as I am concerned, it is appropriate for the Coroner to make those determinations for himself.

He knows what the list of pending matters before him looks like, he knows what priorities he believes should be accorded to those matters, he understands the circumstances that constrain him or the circumstances relating to his allocation of time. As you know, the Coroner has an Assistant Coroner, but they do not have an infinite number of people to hear things. I don't think it is appropriate for the Attorney of the day to be going around telling the Coroner, 'You are, in effect, no longer in control of your list. You will be directed by the Attorney to upset arrangements you have made.'

It is true, as I know you will be aware, Mr Speaker, that the Attorney does have the capacity to give instructions of that nature to the Coroner under the Coroners Act. However, I have taken the view that I cannot foresee a circumstance—one may arise, but I cannot see a circumstance—where I would not allow the Coroner to make his or her own determinations regarding these matters and the order in which they are to be dealt with by the Coroners Court.