Coroner's Office

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:25): Supplementary: has the Attorney-General been briefed or has he spoken to the Coroner about the long delays in conducting inquests and requests that have been made for additional staffing to try to alleviate the enormous backlog of inquests?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:25): I thank the honourable member for his question. I have had a number of meetings, regular meetings, with heads of all the jurisdictions, including the head of the Coroner's Court. Certainly, there have been discussions, and it is not just something peculiar to South Australia in terms of the demands upon the Coroner's Court, it is something that jurisdictions right across Australia are facing

Reforms passed through this parliament in the last couple of years under the former government were aimed at looking at ways of making the operations and things heard in the Coroner's Court more efficient. I certainly have had discussions with the current Coroner, and I know that consideration is being given—and it's not just that staffing levels will fix all concerns—to how the system works and how it works in other states to see whether there are any reforms that we can introduce in South Australia.