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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-24 Daily Xml
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Adjournment Debate

STATE CORONER'S OFFICE

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (17:02): I want to raise a concern I have had for some time. It has been widely known for at least the past two years, if not longer, that the Coroner has been warning about the unacceptably long delays affecting his office; however, nothing is being done to fix the problem. It is clear that the delays in coronial inquiries are a result of the office being understaffed and under resourced, yet unnecessary stress continues to be placed upon already grieving families as they await coronial reports—in some cases, for more than two years.

State Coroner Mark Johns has acknowledged that there is a problem. He said, as reported by the ABC, that:

I have had many discussions with representatives of the Department of Justice about this matter. I have expressed the view that a period of six months or longer between post mortem and formal report is unsatisfactory.

In July last year a spokesperson for the Attorney-General told The Advertiser that the delays were being investigated. He said, 'The investigation is looking at measures that will have immediate impact on backlogs and underlying causes for delays.' I do not believe that any progress has been made in regard to reducing the backlogs and having cases completed within a reasonable period of time.

A constituent, Robyn Knight, has contacted me, and I was horrified to hear of her experience with the Coroner's Office. Her husband was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident on 18 June 2006 in Eden Valley, which is in my electorate. The circumstances of the accident have been extensively investigated by the SA Police Major Crash Unit, which has provided a report to the DPP and the Coroner.

Following the accident Mrs Knight was informed by Major Crash that the investigation into the accident should take about four months. It took over a year. Following investigation by Major Crash, she was advised that no criminal charges would be laid and that the matter was with the Coroner's Office. It is now well over two years since the death of Robyn's husband and the issue still has not been resolved.

The last update from the Coroner's Office was provided to Mrs Knight this week, when it reported that it was still investigating the matter and was not willing to put a time frame on how long the investigation might take. A similar update was provided by the Coroner's Office in March, six months ago, when it said that there were older cases in the office waiting to be dealt with and that they would take priority.

I find two things absolutely despicable about this. First, that there are cases older than that of Robyn's husband still sitting with the Coroner's Office and, secondly, that this constituent was told that the case relating to the death of her husband was not a priority. Surely the Rann Labor government does not honestly think this is a satisfactory practice? To extend the grief of a widow with two young children by failing to complete a coronial report for over two years is a disgrace, and the government should be ashamed that this has been allowed to occur.

I appeal to members to consider this case on a personal basis; there should be no politics in this. A full death certificate still has not been issued from the Coroner's Office, and it will not be until its investigation is complete. Not having a full death certificate prevents this lady from attending to many housekeeping matters—particularly with respect to accounts she held with her husband, which were in joint names. She and her family may also have entitlements pursuant to a loss of dependency claim for wrongful death under the Civil Liability Act, provided a person or persons at fault can be determined. However, as a report from the Coroner is necessary for her solicitors to determine this, they have been unable to proceed. Aside from the legal issues, this constituent is having her grief extended, as it is impossible for her to obtain closure with regard to her husband's death when she does not even know how or why he died.

I have written to both the Minister for Police and the Attorney-General regarding this but to date have not had what I consider to be a satisfactory response. The response from the minister was:

The State Coroner has sole responsibility for the issuing of a death certificate and inquiries would have to be made with the Coroner's Court regarding the status of the file.

The Attorney-General's response was:

The government is aware of the need to reduce the stress on families experiencing these tragic circumstances by reducing waiting lists in these processes. Accordingly, we are pleased to have recently acquired the services of Dr Neil Langlois, a well-respected and experienced forensic specialist, who has accepted a position at Forensic Science South Australia.

Well, one person will only be able to do so much. It seems that a much larger response is needed. I find these responses completely unsatisfactory, and I have assured Mrs Knight that I will continue to lobby on her behalf.

The last budget contained funds to help clear the backlog in the court system, so I asked the Rann Labor government to also contribute in some way to fix the backlog in the Coroner's Office so that more people do not have to endure the same delays my constituent has, resulting in nothing but pain and added grief. I apologise to Mrs Knight on behalf of us all for what she has had to endure for over two years now, and I appeal to the government, particularly to the Attorney-General, to immediately address this problem. I also hope the media hear about this, because I think it is simply despicable that a woman with a young family who loses her husband, her loved one and provider, has to put up with this. It is appalling.

In the few minutes I have left, I will finish by referring to a favourite subject of mine, and that is Gomersal Road. Six years ago, under a Liberal government, through the then transport minister Hon. Diana Laidlaw, the road connecting Tanunda to Main North Road (known as Gomersal Road) was bitumised. This was carried out despite the then opposition's claim that the road was not heavily utilised and therefore it would be a silly investment and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Well, how wrong they were.

Gomersal Road can now be classed as a main arterial road to the Barossa Valley. It is extremely busy, and I am sure that, once the Northern Expressway is completed, it will be even busier. I am led to believe that the traffic volumes are eight times what initial predictions estimated during the design process. Gomersal Road is one of the major freight routes used to transport goods to Tanunda and other parts of the Barossa Valley. This road is also well utilised by commuter traffic, tourists and visitors travelling from Adelaide, along with Barossa residents who commute to Gawler or south of the valley.

It is fantastic to see that this project of a previous Liberal government has been so successful, but, unfortunately, the popularity of this road is causing problems. The 14-kilometre road is mainly owned and managed by the Light Regional Council (in the electorate of the member for Light) and a small portion by the Barossa. However, due to the huge volume of traffic that travels along this road, it is obviously beyond the council's capacity to maintain the condition of the road to a main highway level.

I wrote to the Minister for Transport in August last year requesting that consideration be given to reclassifying Gomersal Road to a state arterial road. In his response in October last year, the minister said:

The Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure...has advised that it is currently conducting a review on behalf of the Local Roads Advisory Committee...of the guidelines used by the Committee in determining road classifications.

The minister went on to say:

I also consider it appropriate to await the outcome of the current review of the road reclassification criteria before considering a change to classification of Gomersal Road.

However, since this correspondence from the minister, I have not heard anything more about reclassifying the road, and the council continues to struggle to keep up with the maintenance required of such a busy arterial road. Potholes are an issue along the road and, despite the council's best attempts to carry out repair work and fix the holes, the work required is more than a local council can afford, a point I keep on coming back to.

Several constituents have contacted me regarding the damage to their vehicles as a result of their driving over potholes along the road. Many have reported damage to their tyres and rims, and those who swerve to miss the potholes to avoid damaging their vehicle pose a danger to other road users. The Light Regional Council cannot keep up with the maintenance required of such a busy road and does not have the funds to do it. Mr Roger Kemp, Light Regional Council's Corporate Manger of Infrastructure, said:

We have suggested to State Cabinet that because it's such a heavily used road it's beyond the council to maintain that to a fair degree. It really should belong to the State Government, rather than a local council.

But it seems that the council's request has been ignored by the state Rann Labor government, with no change in ownership of the road forthcoming. So, the council continues to struggle to undertake the work required to keep the busy freight and commuter route up to an acceptable standard. I urge the state government to reclassify this road straightaway and to take over the care and maintenance of it, and I ask the member for Light to support me as well.

Time expired.

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