House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-25 Daily Xml

Contents

Raethel, Ms H.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:46): My question is to the Premier. Will the family of Hazel Raethel be offered compensation for the loss of their mother and grandmother following a missed cancer diagnosis for three months in 2019?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (14:47): Again, can I indicate to the member that there is a process, of course, if people were to seek some reimbursement of compensation, redress, ex gratia payment, etc. from any government department if they were to claim that there was some basis upon which that should be granted. To my knowledge, I am not aware of any request or application made or any culpability assessment in relation to such a matter. But if the member is representing the family in some way, then I would encourage them to get in touch, if that's their desire to do so.

I just confirm that in relation to inquiries on behalf of any coronial matter in support of there being some kind of inquest, for example, in relation to a death, I would urge all members to ensure that they have the very clear consent of members of the family and next of kin in relation to these matters. Sometimes people come to us and make that inquiry and they want to know and they want there to be certain things to happen.

The position of someone who hasn't left any specific instructions before they have died is a situation that can be very sensitive, so I just urge members to ensure that they identify who the next of kin is and have their permission before they make representations to the Coroner. Obviously, the legal status of any of those will be looked at in relation to any request of the government. But to date, I am not aware of anything that has been presented.