State Coroners Office

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Attorney-General a question about funding to the Coroners office.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: In response to a question I asked yesterday about a backlog of post-mortems in the Coroners office, the minister revealed additional funding had been provided in 2022 for the appointment of another coroner for a 12-month term. My questions to the Attorney are:

1. What is the total amount of additional funding?

2. Given the extreme backlog, why is the funding only for a 12-month period?

3. Has the search begun to find that person?

4. Do you foresee a problem filling the position, given it is only for 12 months?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will double-check if any of the details are wrong, but to the best of my recollection there was funding for an additional coroner, whose time limit had run out, and funding was provided in the budget so that could extend for an additional 12 months. The amount of the funding is, I think, at the rate of a magistrate plus a small additional loading. As I said, it was funding that had run out for an additional coroner but we extended it for a further 12 months and it's something we can look at at the end of the 12 months to see what funding there is and the need for it at that time.